Pride and Cephalopods
by biobabe37
Summary: Doctor Elizabeth Bennet is quite happy in her world of marine biology, studying octopus and squid under a world expert for her post doc. Very little throws this fiery scientist, that is until a secret government agency tells her monsters exist and she's been selected to study them in a secret facility... an offer she isn't allowed to refuse. T for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

Characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Universe from Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International Series (Read it if you get the chance, it's AMAZING, especially if you enjoy a little gore, delightful characters, and an engaging storyline). Plot for this is from my head, will most likely include the main Elizabeth/Darcy relationship arch, but no promises past that! Inspired by the upcoming Pride and Prejudice and Zombies movie to combined some of my favorite books!

"What the HELL?" Elizabeth Bennet yelled, bursting into her principal investigator's office. She was waving her phone around like a mad woman, looking about ready to kill someone. "Doctor Gardiner, you've got to be kidding me! Why I can't work on the squid bioluminescence project? I gave Miriah the idea for her whole dissertation and now I'm not supervising it? And telling me by text? That's just low Roger!"

"Elizabeth, I was just about to call you in!" Doctor Gardiner was not alone in his office; a man in a sharp suit, clearly packing in a shoulder holster under his left arm, stood as she entered the room. His body language made it clear he was comfortable with the weapon, which meant the display of it was purely for intimidation purposes. Automatically Elizabeth didn't like him.

"Elizabeth Bennet, I'm Agent William Darcy. Your expertise is required by the Department of Justice." The man said casually flashing a badge, as if that would clear everything up.

"What?" was all Elizabeth could muster as she worked valiantly not to slug the guy.

"You have been selected to fill a vacancy in our staff at the Nautilus, a facility dedicated to researching unique creatures. You'll need to sign this before we discuss anything further." He replied briskly, handing her a large stack of papers.

She stared, blankly at him, at a loss for words, which was not usually the case.

"Sign. Now." He repeated, brandishing a pen in her face.

Grudgingly she took it and, after glancing at a nodding Doctor Gardiner, she signed it. At least 12 times. Each time she thought she'd finished, the agent flipped to another tab. "Okay, WHAT is this about! Why are you derailing my post doc work? What could you possibly need from me?" She burst as she practically threw the pen back at him (she'd considered keeping it, but that would have been petty).

"Well first Miss Bennet, what you have just signed means that nothing spoken of today will leave this room. The consequences of doing so include but are not limited to imprisonment, charges of treason, and immediate disposal."

"It's Doctor Bennet, I've earned two PhDs thank you very much. And like I had time to read that?" Elizabeth began, incredulous. "You know you g-man types-"

"Secondly," Darcy continued as though she hadn't interrupted, "I am here to inform you that your expertise and relative anonymity in the field of cephalopods have marked you as the obvious choice for a position in our facility, the Nautilus, which deals with the study of classified aquatic organisms. We expect you to report for duty in three weeks, when the next transport leaves for the facility."

"Come again?" Elizabeth was generally considered a well spoken individual but this guy was throwing her for a loop. Not because he was armed, she wasn't scared of guns, hell she was currently carrying much more subtly (bless the soul who designed conceal carry leggings). No, this guy was standing there, speaking nonsense, behaving as though she was doing something offensive; though from her view it was quite the opposite.

"Please keep up Doctor Bennet. You are being recruited to a position in a classified government research facility." He pulled a second, larger stack of papers from his briefcase, and somehow managed to look even more annoyed at her in the process. "We lost our resident cephalopod expert in an unfortunate incident a year ago, and have been getting by with researchers from other fields who've read up on the subject. That being said we've recently acquired a specimen that requires someone with your training. Doctor Gardiner here would have been a preferred choice if he weren't so well known. You, as his post doctorate fellow, have all the qualifications without the notoriety, making you the next best choice."

"What classified specimen would I be working on? Why would it be classified in the first place?" Elizabeth demanded.

"Well Doctor Bennet," The way Agent Darcy was saying her name now made her want to punch him more than 'Miss Bennet' had. "As it is relevant to your upcoming employment by my agency, I am not in violation of the Unearthly Forces Disclosure Act in informing you that monsters do in fact exist. I am not at liberty to explicitly state the existence of any unearthly being outside the purview of what you will be working on, however for the sake of avoid pestering questions the answer is yes, whatever creature from a B horror movie you are currently thinking of most likely does exist."

The room was silent for a full minute. Doctor Gardiner did not look surprised, though he did appear concerned for Elizabeth as she processed the information. Agent Darcy look annoyed at the wait, but did not say anything.

Eventually She spoke, weighing each word carefully, "So monsters exist? And you want me to study them? Did I get that right?"

"Yes, while generally referred to as 'unearthly', many monsters have similar physiologies to their natural world analogs. We recruit experts in the field to learn more about them as they don't have to learn the earthly aspects of the creatures first before studying the differences. This is not the case for all monsters, but those need not concern you." Darcy replied briskly.

"So what would I be working on? A Kraken? Mermaid? Luska? Can I draw the line at living and/or sentient monsters, because that's like experimenting on chimps, which was recently banned in the US, so you know most people don't consider that kosher now a days." She said, choosing to focus on ethics because at the moment she really couldn't think too much about monsters truly existing.

"You know about the specimen?" The agent asked, looking alarmed. He turned to Gardiner, "I thought you said she wasn't aware of them and that you understood that confidentiality was an absolute in our correspondences?"

"Agent Darcy, of course I didn't breach-" Doctor Gardiner began, then Elizabeth cut over him "Chill out Agent Glock head! I've been reading a lot of sci fi in my free time lately. Seriously, I was just spitballing."

He shrugged slightly in his shoulder holster, looking vaguely uncomfortable. Clearly she'd gotten him, which gave Elizabeth pause, "Wait, is it a kraken, mermaid, or luska?" She couldn't help smirking, it didn't hurt to even the playing field a bit by getting the upperhand for a moment.

"Luska" he admitted sourly, "Private contractors were hire to deal with it and managed to not shoot it to hell for once, so the MCB took custody of the remains for research purposes when the PUFF application was submitted. That will be your first task in our employ."

"A luska, according to legend, is half shark, half squid… Now this is not a usual situation for me, but Darcy, I'm afraid I'm only half the woman you need." She could have sworn she saw him smirk at that, but a moment later his face was impassive, so she continued, "Particularly because you didn't ask nicely, and because I don't take demands I don't think I'll be taking this job. Bummer really, we would have had a ball working together."

Elizabeth walked towards the door, obviously eager to get out of the situation. She was surprised to find two more men in suits, not quite as sharp as Agent Grumpy pants, and printing even worse, blocking her exit. "Annnnd you have friends, what the hell?" Instinctively she reached for the small Smith and Wesson M&P concealed at the small of her back.

"Lizzie, not a good idea!" Doctor Gardiner warned, sounding rather panicked. He knew she carried and most likely did not want a fire fight in his office.

"I agree with the good Doctor, Miss Bennet, while you are licensed to carry, attacking a federal office is a twenty year prison sentence, and you would no longer be eligible to own that firearm." Came the smug voice of Agent Darcy as the agents in front of her moved to draw their own weapons.

She slowly pulled her hands away and held them up as she walked towards the open chair, a grim expression on her face. "Fine, fine, fine, I'm done, won't shoot you in the face... or ass..."

"Much appreciated Doctor Bennet. Now, I assure you, the other half of the luska is well in hand, and as for you refusal of the position: this is not 'participation optional', your country requires your services." Agent Darcy told Elizabeth in a gloating voice as she sat down. The two other agents walked into the office and shut the door behind them. As the lock clicked Darcy looked at her and smirked, "Welcome to the Monster Control Bureau."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1 has been edited a little bit, nothing plot-wise, more flow and wording issues being sorted. As I said before, this universe is from Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International (MHI). Don't worry if you aren't familiar with this universe, (I assume most of you aren't, though if you are pm me and we can nerd out) I'll be explaining a lot of the universe as Elizabeth herself learns more about the world she didn't know she was living in. I've also enlisted a friend for beta-ing so future chapters won't be so sloppy :) Thanks for the feedback!

Elizabeth spent three hours locked in Doctor Gardiner's office with Agent Darcy and company. She almost drew her gun again, twice, before Doctor Gardiner confiscated it like a grade school teacher taking away a toy during class. For some reason the Monster Control Agents had not been overly concerned about it. During that time she had been fully briefed on her surprise new job. The facility she'd be working at was named the "Nautilus" and was in fact so secret it was built underwater… as part of the continental shelf, just off the coast of Alaska. "Was the Marianas trench already taken?" Elizabeth had joked awkwardly.

"We have an agreement with the current inhabitants to stay out." was the brusk reply from Agent Darcy. Everything about the man seemed brusk and sharp and sarcastic. If this was any indication if his usual demeanor, it was no wonder the man had been assigned to a facility super removed from normal people.

The Nautilus had been commissioned by the Monster Control Bureau approximately ten years previous to provide a site for studying monsters where security wouldn't be an issue. A secret underwater compound that could only be accessed via submarine through restricted waters, after you traveled to the northernmost point of Alaska seemed to do the trick. Part of Elizabeth's introductory file "Gray literature" from her predecessor at the facility. The researcher had written up as much as possible about luska from the testing and analysis of a handful of burnt and battle torn samples previously collected as PUFF evidence. Apparently PUFF stood for Perpetual Unearthly Forces Fund, and was a bounty system to encourage people to kill monsters by paying them huge wads of cash to do so, provided they didn't tell anyone else about it.

They had spent a looong time discussing or, more accurately, arguing about the confidentiality issue. Elizabeth found it offensive that the government was keeping the existence of monsters a secret. "People deserve to know some blood sucking bastard might show up and rip their throat out. Or that on the full moon they might get mauled by a werewolf. Do you realize that if everyone knew monsters existed you wouldn't currently be hijacking my life and forcing me to live not even _in_ Alaska, but _off the_ _ **northern**_ _coast of Alaska_? _UNDERWATER_? And your organization wouldn't have to be secret." She argued.

In response Darcy kept repeating that it was a complex issue that she did not understand, and if she did fully understand the implications she would agree that people are better off not knowing, or some various thereof. Doctor Gardiner eventually demanded a subject change because the tension was raising his blood pressure.

The single aspect of the forced job change that Elizabeth was not entirely opposed to was the fact that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone where she worked, including her mother. "Really? Do you promise?" She asked gleefully, confusing Agent Darcy. "It will be considered treason to tell my mom where I'm going? Am I even allowed to communicate with her, or can that be banned too?"

"Well, er, email correspondences are allowed, though that will be monitored and any information deemed classified will be removed." Darcy replied confused at her look of glee.

"That's amazing!" Elizabeth beamed, "Can I request Big Brother take out parts of her letters? For example every time my mother asks why I'm not married? Because that almost makes this whole shitty situation worth it." All three MCB agents looked at her like she was insane while Gardiner just smiled, he'd met Mrs. Bennet.

They hadn't talked much more after that. Elizabeth was informed that a detail of agents would be shadowing her until her departure for the Nautilus, "So if you please, don't shoot them, or try to at least." was Darcy's snarky request. In three weeks she'd be escorted to the airport where they'd fly into Anchorage, Alaska, and then to a small town called Barrow, Alaska, which was apparently as north as you could get and remain on American soil. Then they would take the submarine to the Nautilus. "Excellent security," Elizabeth had rolled her eyes, "No one with sense will ever even bother, and every one else will most likely die of frostbite first."

When she did eventually leave Doctor Gardiner's office she had a thick file to apprise herself of which included her official government approved cover story, the itinerary of the trip to the facility, and a the "Life at the Nautilus Introductory Guide" which included pictures of the personal living areas, explanations of how life worked underwater, and suggestions for what to pack for long term residence. Interestingly enough the Nautilus did not seem to subscribe to the military-esque minimalism, or olive green drab. The pictures showed reasonably well appointed rooms that rather resembled those of a mid level hotel. Elizabeth assumed the more comfortable living quarters were to make up for forcing scientist to give up their research and live in the most ridiculous place ever.

After checking in on Arnold the Octopus, who she'd collected her last dive in the Puget Sound, Elizabeth gathered her things from her office and headed home. It may have been early, but after the day she'd had she deserved it. Responsible spending and a decent income had allowed Elizabeth to afford a cozy, one bedroom apartment to herself, which she gladly returned to, happy to not have a roommate to not be able to tell about her day.

Keeping busy, an hour later she had a bottle of wine cracked open, potato soup on the stove, and cookies in the oven. Peeking out the window she saw an unmarked van parked on her street, because that wasn't terribly obvious or anything. It was weird to think about… there were two government assigned agents whose job for the next three weeks was to stalk her. While a rather independent individual who wasn't particularly keen on Big Brother watching, Elizabeth couldn't deny finding it a bit comforting that, now knowing monsters were real, she'd at least have some backup if something terrible randomly happened before she left for the Nautilus. She brought the big packet of info from her bag and began reviewing her official cover story as she ate.

Apparently Elizabeth was given an opportunity to study a newly discovered species of squid found in the southern Indian ocean, where anything other than email would be impossible, and she was expected to be there for two years minimum as she observed populations in Australia, Malaysia, India, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, and Madagascar. Elizabeth had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn't officially be surviving this fictional research trip. Particularly near the end of her supposed travels she would be in some politically dicey areas, and what better way for someone to disappear. That or getting lost at sea. She was an experienced scuba diver, but accidents happen, particularly in the open ocean. It would be interesting to see how the Monster Control Bureau planned on playing with her life.

Elizabeth realized she should be much more upset about the whole situation, and wondered why her rage had subsided since her discussion with Agent Darcy. If she was being honest, it most likely had to do with the mysterious quality surrounding her future test subjects. Curious by nature, Elizabeth wanted to know more; what mythic monsters were out there? What were they capable of? Where did they come from, how closely related were they to their non monstrous counterparts? Were they intelligent?

Or perhaps it was all just easier to process without that stick-up-his-ass Darcy in the room. That was probably it.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey Guys! Hope you enjoy! Not much to say, aside from the fact that next week's chapter (I'm trying to do a chapter a week) might be late,or just not happen as it's finals week. Let me know what you think!

* * *

How does one explain to their parents why they are packed up their entire life on three weeks notice? Elizabeth was trying to solve this conundrum as she moved boxes of her belongings into her parent's house for storage in her childhood bedroom.

"You can't wait another month or so?" Mrs Bennet pled, "It's coming into wedding season and what better place for you to meet a nice eligible man than at a wedding! You know last summer your little sister met several nice, young men at your cousin's wedding and she still gets together with them for a night out every now and then."

"Yes, Mom, she did meet many nice men who she still hangs out with. But you do realize that it is because Kitty works for a men's style magazine and cousin Brenda and her wife have lots of gay friends, right?" Elizabeth asked as she lugged a box of kitchenwares from the back of a rented truck down to the house. Her mother follow, carrying nothing, except perhaps regret that her daughter had turned out so much like her father.

"My dear wife, do you really think that an entire scientific expedition would be postponed because you want your daughter to meet men before she goes off on a grand adventure?" Can Mr Bennet's voice following them down the stair as he carried yet another box of Elizabeth's possessions. "Do you realize that requesting that to a funding board would be undermining the progress made by women in science for the past fifty years?" he asked with a tone of mild amusement. His wife made a huffing noise and left the room as he turned to his daughter, "Lizzie where were we stacking books?"

"Over by the closet," she gestured to a substantial stack of boxes as she made sure the one she was adding to was stable. "But Dad, I told you to stick with the light boxes. You know you shouldn't stress yourself, and if something happens to you while I'm gone I don't know if I'll be able to come home and take care of you!" Elizabeth warned. Her father was approaching 60 and she couldn't help but worry about his health. She knew her mother had the nagging covered, but sometimes she slipped and did a little of it herself.

"Don't fret Little-bit," he smiled, childhood nickname, "I just had an appointment with the doctor last week, and I'm in fighting-fit health. Besides, do I look like a squid to you?"

"Noo," she replied, smiling begrudgingly, knowing what was coming.

"Do I have tentacles?" He inquired further, looking at her over the rim of his glasses.

"No, you don't." Elizabeth rolled her eyes, as she rested against the nearest stack of boxes.

"And remind me, my sweet daughter, what sort of degrees do you have? Because last I checked, neither a PhD in Biochemistry, nor one in Cephalopods qualifies you to treat humans." her father scolded.

"Hey, I'm not claiming to be an MD!" Elizabeth defended, "I'm just quoting one, your's in fact! Not to mention that while my first dissertation was on the chemical processes of bioluminescence in Whiplash squid, most of my PhD was spent in classes learning about the biochemical processes of humans." She looked carefully at him, sighing slightly, "And I can't help worrying Dad, I mean not that I don't love them, but Mom and Kitty aren't great at looking outside of their own worlds. What if they start a grapefruit diet? They've talked about it before, and they might forget and with your statins, I mean-"

"Elizabeth Marie Bennet," He shook his head in good natured exasperation, leaning against his own stack of boxes and observing his firstborn. "I did take care of myself for thirty some odd years before we had you, and a few years after as well; while you were in diapers and eating crayons."

"Yes, and in those years you played Doctor Indiana Jones, archaeologist. If memory and stories serve; you got kidnapped and nearly sold in Columbia, fell down a cave and spent two days alone with three fractured ribs and a broken leg while your expedition went to go get help in the Amazon, and I hate to bring this up, but I must, you had a mullet. Face it Pops, you need me." She told him seriously, "The best thing that ever happened to your health was getting tenure and being forced to calm down."

"Well, I think bringing up the mullet is a little harsh…" her father shrugged, before fixing her with his patented 'Dad' stare, the one that always managed to get her to spill her guts, despite her best efforts. "Now Lizzie, what's gotten you all spun up about my health? Yes, you'll being going away for a few years, but it's hardly as if you're leaving us forever to join some commune." He paused and smiled to himself, "And if that is the plan, I highly suggest you rethink it. You'll find many people of anti-vaccine persuasion in communes, and if last Thanksgiving with your Aunt Sally is any indication, that would not be a positive encounter for anyone."

The stress of the past few weeks, and the 'Dad' stare were cracking her defenses. "I just want to make sure you'll take care of yourself while I'm gone." She answered lamely. He keep staring, and she crumbled, wanting to tell him as much as possible without telling him anything she shouldn't. "What if I said that the agency funding this expedition I'm going on, well they're US government, but they're also kind of shady and secretive. And I might not be going exactly where they say I am, or studying what they say I will be…" She trailed off, looking at him, wishing she could just tell him everything. The room felt thick with all the things she couldn't say.

"Are you in danger?" He asked gently.

"No," she shook her head, "I mean as long as I don't blab to anyone about it, otherwise I might end up in Gitmo… or maybe it was dead. They were kind of fuzzy about that, but in a threatening way."

"I see." He removed his glasses, taking a corner of his shirt to polish the lenses, "And I'm guessing this government agency did not give you much of a choice in accepting this research position?"

"It's like you've met them!" Elizabeth sighed heavily, "No, I don't have a choice. But if I'm being honest the subject matter I'd be studying is fascinating, and if it had been offered instead of demanded, I might have still taken the position, despite it's massive level of weirdness."

There was a very long pause, before her father replaced his glasses, pushing them back up the bridge of his nose. then he walked over to the door, shutting it firmly and locking it before turning back to her and asking quietly, "Elizabeth, are you going to study monsters?"

All she could do was blink, so her father continued. "Now I assume that the good agents from the Monster Control Bureau have not gained any charm over the decades, and made it very clear you aren't to tell anyone, but that doesn't apply to someone who already knows that monsters exist." He smiled, looking pleased with himself.

"You know?" was all she could manage at first. "Does Mom know too? She can't have, it wouldn't be a secret anymore if she did, the whole world would know. How do you know?"

"I'm an archeologist, I dug up history, found proof of ancient legends, monster and otherwise. And more than one dig I've been on has involved chupacabras attacking the site, finding skeletons that just weren't natural, or waking up some long sleeping undead. If I learned nothing else from my fieldwork, I learned to always pay attention to the warnings written on tombs, nine times out of ten they're right, and the tenth time you get to watch the newbies wet their pants." He chuckled, before turning serious once more, "Now you know why I was adamant that you girls get some self defense and firearms training? Even if I couldn't tell you what was out there, I certainly could do my best to make sure you stood a chance."

"So you know the people I'm going to work for?" Elizabeth asked tentatively, "I didn't just go crazy? I'm not selected for some secret mind control project or anything?"

"No, Elizabeth, you are not any more crazy than you were before," He chuckled, "And everyone knows the government abducts prostitutes for mind control experiments. As your mother never convinced you to join that mother/daughter pole dancing class and you don't dress like your sister, I believe you are safe."

She laughed, "Thanks for the clarification." They were quiet for a moment, "So I guess I can tell you I'm going to study luska in an underwater research facility."

"A luska, eh?" Her father smiled, "Those are nasty things. Had a guide down in Chile who told us about a national park that had a luska picking off stray vacationers. Many other countries have significantly more lax policies in regards to who knows about monsters, often because too many people know about them. Governments don't officially acknowledge their existence, but do provide contingency plans for monster attack. Actually this luska the guide told my expedition about, the Chilean government hired a group of monster hunters from the US to take it out because their people were dealing with a vampire next in the capitol. Monster Hunter International, I think it was, based out of Alabama, but they've got groups all over the US-"

He was cut off by the handle on the door jiggling, "What are you two doing in there?" Came Elizabeth's mother's voice. "I've made lunch!"

"Sorry Mom!" Elizabeth jumped up to open the door to her mother's impatient face. "Dad was just giving me some professional advice, being stuck with the same group of people for long periods of time, like when we're out to sea and all that, I didn't realize the door was locked."

Elizabeth didn't get another chance to speak to her father alone before she left, but as they hugged goodbye in the driveway, he gave her an extra squeeze and whispered, "You'll be just fine Little-bit. Go have an adventure!"

"Thanks Dad," she squeezed back, before letting go and climbing into the truck.

"Don't be afraid to pick up a nice man on your trip! No need to get me a curio if you get yourself a husband!" Elizabeth's mother shouted as she pulled out of the driveway. Mr. Bennet just shook his head and waved until Elizabeth had driven out of sight.

"Well Liz," she spoke to the otherwise empty cabin of the truck, "In twenty-four hours you'll be on your way to the Nautilus. You are going to go study monsters. And you're going to rock it." The declaration hung in the air. She could do this. She was Elizabeth Freaking Bennet, and the Monster Control Bureau won't know what hit them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Elizabeth was having second thoughts. Granted most sane humans would have second thoughts in a military transport plane being tossed around by turbulence over the barren expanse of northern Alaska whilst severely sleep deprived. On the bright side, if they did crash, the twenty or so G.I. Joe look-alikes snoozing peacefully around her sure as hell seemed liked they'd be able to survive basically anywhere. That is if they would actually speak to her. Over the past several days of travel, since she'd been picked up from her apartment to the present, they'd hardly spoken a word to her. The agents would speak quietly to each other, sometimes laughing, and generally appeared to be friends; however, any time Elizabeth approached any of them they'd stop talking, and communication was reduced to single word responses. She couldn't decide if she prefered being frozen out by these jerks over being talked down to, like that Agent Darcy asshole had. Elizabeth had been pleasantly surprised to find he wasn't with the transport flying out of Anchorage to Borrow, but knew she wasn't going to be able to avoid him indefinitely.

Anyways, it wasn't like the agents didn't notice her. She'd caught a few looking at her curiously, and one or two lecherously. She was used to that, literally this was what most gun shows and shooting ranges were like, but somehow this was different. At shooting ranges all you had to do was prove your competence, run a couple Mozambique drills flawlessly and you were one of the guys (at least the ones who weren't total misogynists). She tried to prove herself with gun talk, that usually melted a few and the rest would follow, but they weren't even giving her that! Maybe it was because they worked for a secret government agency that hunted monsters, Perhaps initiation for these men involved facing down some Eldritch Horror before you were "one of the guys". Either way, she thought, there wasn't much she could currently do 35,000 ft in the air. Hopefully her fellow scientists would be more personable than the facility muscle seemed to be.

When they landed on the small tarmac in Barrow, Alaska, Elizabeth was relieve to be out of the skies. That is, until the cargo ramp lowered and the frigid air blustered through. Literally it was colder than it had been while they were flying. The agent who'd been assigned to babysit her during transport, and who'd literally buckled her into her seat, finally decided he had to use verbal communication and shouted loudly, to be heard over the wind, and pointed to the building directly in view, "We're going to that hanger." She nodded, pulled her beanie down lower over her ears, and adjusted her scarf to cover her face. After waiting for a few of the crates to be moved out of the way, the personnel descended down the ramp, Elizabeth taking care to make sure she was following the RIGHT black BDU clad individual. When they'd cleared the crowd, she looked back and saw that the other men were headed to a different hanger on the air strip.

The Agent held the door for her as she rushed into the shelter of the building. "Lucas, got a civilian for you!" He announced loudly, pulling the door shut, with effort. They were in a hangar, mostly a large empty area, with a small office tucked immediately in front of them.

"You know Denny, you wouldn't need to shout if you waited the five seconds it takes to look around and see me coming." A woman said, coming out of the office. She was also dressed in black BDUs, sidearm at her hip, her black dreadlocks pulled back into a bun on top of her head. She handed the other agent a clip board, then turned to Elizabeth, extending a hand, "Agent Charlotte Lucas, you must be Doctor Bennet."

"Nice to meet you!" Elizabeth replied enthusiastically, glad to actually be acknowledged, even if she was being signed over like a Fedex package.

"Same goes here." Charlotte nodded, "I'm civilian liaison, rather like HR, so we'll get the chance to know each other very well. If you've got questions, I'm your go to person."

"Will you be coming to the Nautilus?" Elizabeth asked, trying not to sound overly hopeful. Elizabeth could stand being surrounded by men, but there really was no replacement for a fellow female ear.

"Yes, I was up on the surface for leave, and timing worked out for me to collect you, but I'm stationed at the Nautilus." Agent Lucas nodded, "I can't wait to see what problems the idiots stationed down there have caused while I'm gone." She added, glaring pointedly at Agent Denny.

"Lucas, if we didn't occasionally harass the nerds, they wouldn't like you as much." He smirked, handing back her clipboard. "Besides, some of them are just weird."

"It's not the 'nerds' I'm concerned about. As far as I'm aware they consider your antics just as immature as I do. I'm talking about the MHI guys from Seattle that went down with the vamp specimen." She rolled her eyes, "What Darcy was thinking letting those guys into the Nautilus, I don't want to know _what_ strings he pulled!"

"He let those SOBs in?" Denny looked surprisingly furious, "And the Director let him? Does he have naked pictures of Meyers?"

"Like that would do much good, you know Agent Franks would rip the arms off anyone who tried blackmailing the Director." Lucas shook her head, "However it happened, I have a feeling my desk will have an extra thick stack of Agent/Civilian incident reports."

"Can't promise I won't add to it." Agent Denny gruffed, "I'll see you on the sub down, Lucas." He nodded briefly to Elizabeth before leaving the hangar.

"Who are MHI, and why is it bad that they're at the Nautilus?" Elizabeth asked, following Agent Lucas into the office.

"Did you read your introductory packet?" the woman asked, sitting down at a computer and gesturing Elizabeth to sit in the seat facing her. Elizabeth nodded. "Then you read about PUFF. Well, there are some who take up professional monster hunting as private citizens, they collect bounties by killing monsters. It's legal, but the people who end up in that occupation tend to be rather militant, and particularly for MHI, Monster Hunter International, extremely anti-government. They're certainly capable, but they also tend to act outside of their jurisdiction. It's a complicated issue." Lucas shook her head, "The simplest way to put it is MCB agents and Hunters don't generally get along and sticking a few hunters underwater in a MCB facility is just asking for trouble."

"I see." Elizabeth nodded, watching the woman type, "And what he said about the agents and researchers not getting along? Because I'm going to be honest, if that's an issue I would blame the legion of antisocial G.I. Joes. They aren't exactly welcoming."

"No, they're not welcoming, but they also spend a good majority of their lives fighting the darkest evils in existence for the good of a world that will never know their sacrifices." Agent Lucas replied bluntly, looking up to look at Elizabeth right in the eyes, "You don't become a MCB agent without surviving an encounter with an unnatural, and then you're not allowed to tell anyone you care about. Think of it like the bond between soldiers, but even stronger, because the horrors they see aren't caused by humans, and usually they're worse."

"Gotcha." Elizabeth was embarrassed, and suitably chastened by the stern agent's explanation. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, just understand." Agent Lucas shrugged, "I won't say that your life doesn't have it own challenges; three weeks ago you were told that the world is scarier than you'd imagined, and that your life was being hijacked by a mystery agency for the foreseeable future. That's a rather stressful situation, but you can't play victim to it; the ones who do, they don't adjust and they stay miserable until they leave. Others choose to embrace it and move forward." Seeming to feel like she'd been too harsh, Agent Lucas smile, "And really, most of the agents warm up after a while. I've read your file Doctor; you've got extensive firearms training for a civilian, your psych eval indicates a very logical mindset, and you communicate clearly and effectively, you'll fit right in."

"Thanks." Elizabeth relaxed slightly, then paused, "Not to be punny, but I'm feeling completely out of depth here."

"Eh, it's what happened," Agent Lucas brushed glanced at her computer screen. "And we'll be leaving for the docks shortly, so freshen up if you need. Bathrooms are down there." she gestured.

"Thanks Agent Lucas." Elizabeth nodded, standing up.

"Not a problem Doctor," She nodded sharply, "We'll head out in five minutes."

Turns out submarines aren't particularly cool… well they might be, but if you're not actually driving the sub you get to sit in a windowless compartment. When they docked at the Nautilus, Agent Lucas lead Elizabeth past the station where all of the agents who'd come down in the sub were checking in, down several unremarkable hallways. The air felt sharp and sanitized, though Elizabeth was glad to see that the ambient temperature was not freezing or even chilly, despite the building be deep in freezing waters. "Your bags will be taken to your room. Meanwhile, I'll show you your office and introduce you to some of the research team. They'll talk to you about some of the laboratory specifics and safety protocol. We do have live specimens down here, so safety and security protocols are not optional. Failure to follow them could get someone killed, and that's if we're lucky. We do currently have an immobilized vampire down in Level 4 containment, which is the highest risk, along with many other living samples. You'll have to earn clearance into that level, but head of research will fill you in on that one. Any questions so far?" As they walked down a main hallway Elizabeth noticed they passed several branching hallways marked with labels such as "ADMINISTRATION", "LIVING QUARTERS", "CRYO-STORAGE", and most immediately interesting to her: "ARMOURY". They passed a few other individuals, but they all appeared to be MCB agents, possibly on patrol, carrying M4 carbines. A few nodded to Agent Lucas and welcomed her back, but none acknowledged Elizabeth.

"Can I carry here?" Elizabeth asked as they turned down the hallway labeled "RESEARCH OFFICES".

"A sidearm?" Agent Lucas clarified, "You'll have to take a qualification test, and a psych eval to assure you're not going to try and shoot the place up. Or at least try to; with the number of agents in this facility it's unlikely any human could do much damage before they get shot. I'd wait to get settled in before pursuing that, it's rather time consuming." All of the doors down this hallway were closed. "Seems everyone is in the lab today. All research teams have active projects going, so that's not a surprise. This one here is yours." Lucas opened a door halfway down the hallway. It was a nondescript room, cream walls, empty bookshelf, a desk wrapping around half the room, and an inset, framed picture of green rolling hills.

"Well no window, but it's bigger than my last office..." Elizabeth shrugged. New offices always felt sterile to her until they were fill with pictures from trips, maps, stacks of research papers, and jars of samples. She had a nephrologist friend who had an entire shelf of kidneys and kidney stones he'd removed throughout his career. His favorite had been a kidney with a malignant Wilms Tumor the size of an orange that had been removed from a newborn; it had been an extremely rare occurrence and the child had made a complete recovery, so he considered it a win-win scenario.

"No locks on the drawers." Elizabeth noted.

"No locks on the drawers or the door." The other woman nodded, "The idea is to foster trust and an open exchange of information and ideas with everyone."

"Don't forget to mention that the Monster Control Bureau considers nothing sacred." Can a light voice from the doorway. The speaker was not complaining, but teasing. The woman standing before them was pale, with a bright red pixie cut and sparkling green eyes. Nothing about her said 'secret government agency', but she exuded an aura of warmth and sweetness, particularly with the light blue, a-line skirt and white blouse with peterpan collar under her unbuttoned lab coat. "It's an adjustment from academia where you keep everything buttoned up tight until you publish, but on the bright side if a colleague doesn't return your stapler you can get it yourself!" She smiled sweetly.

"Doctor Bennet, this is Doctor Bingley, she'll be collaborating with you on the Luska project." Agent Lucas made the introduction, smiling.

"Please call me Jane." The pixie haired woman extended a hand. "Hopefully Charlotte hasn't completely freaked you out about being here, she's a bit too agent-y sometimes. It's really not all military precision in the research groups, drives the agents nuts, but keeps us normal people sane."

"Nice to meet you Jane," Elizabeth shook her hand, "And feel free to call me Elizabeth, or Liz, or Lizzie, I respond to most every iteration of my name there is. You must be the shark expert? Agent Darcy said they had that covered, though I've got to admit, I imagined you as more of a reckless middle aged swedish guy."

The two other women laughed before Jane spoke, "You know, I get that a lot. But I'm afraid it's just mild mannered me. Charlotte, would you like me to take Elizabeth here down the the lab to show he what we're working on right now?"

"Would you? That'd be great." Agent Lucas nodded, "I've got a feeling there's a stack of incident reports on my desk with those two MHI hunters down here."

"Oh they're nice!" Jane beamed, "I ate with them yesterday in the cafeteria, Nate and Gigi, they had some great stories!"

"You would make friends with the mercenaries." Charlotte shook her head, then looked to Elizabeth, "You are in very capable hands with our dear Jane here. And she's a good friend to have down here, her husband is buddies with the man in charge." Charlotte winked and Jane goodnaturedly rolled her eyes, "I'll meet up with you two at dinner in an hour, alright?"

"I'll make sure nothing eats her!" Jane waved, then turned her attention to Elizabeth, smiling cheerily. "Now Elizabeth, are you ready to meet your first monster?"


	5. Chapter 5

So just a brief note: Hope you all had lovely holidays/New Years! Sorry for the delay, but such is life! I especially wanted to thank the reviewers, your kind words give me all sorts of warm fuzzies, so thanks! Hope you enjoy!

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"IT should get you your laptop and phone tomorrow morning." Jane informed Elizabeth as they left the office and walked down the rest of the hallway to a door labeled "Research Level 1, No Living Samples Past This Point'. "This is where the labs are; Level 1 is dead, nontoxic, non regenerating samples only. It's got the lowest safety and security requirements, but all incoming samples are vetted in level 4 first, to avoid turning someone into a fish person or getting eaten because the sample spontaneously regenerates. Each floor is a different safety level and has different procedures. You'll have to pass an assessment to gain security clearance for each level, with the exception of this one, all researchers have access here."

Jane held her hand to a sensor and it projected a holographic screen, which scanned her palm. "Jane Bingley, authorized." came the electronic voice.

The door slid open and Elizabeth couldn't help but to commented "Groovy!" She began to follow after Jane, but when she put one foot through the door a loud, blaring siren began and the electronic voice began yelling "Unauthorized. Unauthorized. Unauthorized."

"Ooops! I forgot-" Jane spun around, shouting over the noise, her eyes wide.

Elizabeth stepped back and the doors snapped shut. She heard boots coming down the hall towards her, she turned to see two black armour clad men pointing their carbines at her. Instinctively her right hand made for the small of her back, where she'd normally have her own firearm, then she remembered she wasn't armed. After a moment's hesitation Elizabeth raised her hands to the ceilings. "Identify yourself!" One barked as the other scanned his own hand and the sirens stopped.

"Doctor Elizabeth Bennet. I'm new here, Doctor Bingley is just on the other side of the door, if you'll-" She began explaining when the door behind her slid open again, and the agents shifted their aim.

"Sorry guys! I forgot to have her scan in!" Jane squeaked. The muzzles of the agents facing Elizabeth dropped to the ground immediately, and she released a breath she didn't realize she was holding and lowered her hands. There were two further agents on Jane's side of the door, though their weapons were not aimed at anyone.

"Really dear?" came the surprising response from one of the agents on Elizabeth's side of the door.

"I forgot to tell her to scan in." Jane repeated, shrugging sheepishly as she stepped onto the office side of the door. The agent speaking waved the two agents on the lab side off. "But what are you doing on patrol?"

"Did some work on pistol grips for Hernandez and wanted to get out of the armoury for a while. I left Philips in charge, it's been slow because most of the agents are in sims training today, and the more competent he is without me, the more leave we'll be granted to visit your parents during the holidays." the man replied. "So this is Doctor Bennet. I'm Charles Bingley, Jane's trophy husband. Are you looking forward to working on the Luska? Jane has been talking about it nonstop for a week now." he offered his hand.

"Umm yeah, I mean the monsters thing is reeeally new to me, but also really exciting." Elizabeth shook his hand, smiling at his own personal description, "I mean I would've been nice to have a choice in the matter, but I'm less freaked out than I was three weeks ago."

"I hear a lot of researchers feel like that, not that I would know first hand. Monsters are actually how Jane and I met, so I kind of owe demon monkeys for introducing me to my wife. And we had the choice to be stationed down here."

Jane smiled and took up the narrative, "I worked at a zoo and aquarium, doing some research in their shark tanks, and we got a shipment of monkeys in from the Dominican Republic. Turns out they'd been captured from the forest of a voodoo priestess who'd possessed them to be guards. They attacked a couple workers in the primate house, ripped their faces off and hung their disemboweled bodies from the roof to warn anyone from entering," she made a face at this, "So the zoo director called in MCB. Charlie was on the team in charge of removing them."

"I was filling in that day," Charlie grinned, "It was total luck that Schnitzler was sick that day, I'm more of a support guy than a point man, I was apprenticed to the MCB office's Master of the Armoury at the time." He grimaced, "I was supposed to be explaining to Jane that telling anyone what she saw would require us to silence her in whatever way we felt appropriate and it turned into asking her out to dinner."

"You really are too nice for witness intimidation." Jane raised her eyebrows, "And it was a rather confusing invitation; as I initially understood it I had to go out with you to dinner or I be killed because I saw the monkeys."

"I did manage to clarify that by the time we finished appetizers" Charlie added.

"When did this turn into the Hallmark channel?" The agent behind Charlie rolled his eyes..

"Hernandez, don't be jealous that you haven't conveniently got a genius wife who has the clearance and intellect necessary to work with you down here." Charlie told him, good naturedly.

"Wife? Hell Bingley, I don't even have time for a girlfriend, especially working down here." the agent replied gruffly, but smiling.

"Well I should continue giving Elizabeth her tour, but I'll see you at dinner, alright dear?" Jane asked her husband.

"Yes, and make sure to have her scan through every door alright? I'll have to write this one up, and I have a feeling Darcy won't be thrilled, he's been stressed lately."

"William needs to take up yoga or meditation, I worry about his blood pressure." Jane shook her head.

"The director shouldn't have brought those MHI guys down here, that would cut his stress in half." Hernandez spoke up.

"Do go there man," Charlie shook his head, "For starters you know he's a good friend, and second Meyers cleared it, so get over it. I'll see you at dinner Jane, you too Doctor Bennet, it was nice to meet you."

"Same." Elizabeth nodded and watched as the two agents returned to their station.

"Sorry about that, I haven't done a tour before, but since we're research partners they thought it would be a good idea." Jane turned back to Elizabeth. "Should we try this again?"

"Yes, let's." Elizabeth smiled, lifted her hand to the sensor and allowed the projection to scan her palm.

"Elizabeth Bennet, authorized." the voice announced, and she quickly stepped through the re opened door. Jane scanned her palm and followed suit.

"So if everyone is authorized for this floor, why have the scanners?" Elizabeth asked as they walked down the hallway.

"Well all researchers are, but agents are only allowed in the labs when they're on duty. A few of the administrators have full access, like Charlotte, William, or the IT guys, but the rest don't have any, so they can't get past the offices." They came to a door labeled 4, "And this is our space!"

Jane opened the door and Elizabeth was greeted by the sight of a truly pristine laboratory. There were rows of shelves containing glass beakers, flasks, and bottles with orange caps neatly lined up, side by side. Two laboratory grade fridge/freezers flanked a stainless steel door that was clearly a large cold storage room, The counters running around the edge of the room were loaded with innumerable instruments, all the latest models.

"Are all the labs this beautiful?" Elizabeth asked, her voice a little breathy, "Because I think I might be in love." One wouldn't call the lab spacious, however it was setup to maximize space while avoiding a claustrophobic feeling, and while it was clearly used, it was also obviously cared for and kept clean.

Jane laughed, "Well each one is kitted out differently, depending on need. For example there's this reptoid sample on level 3 that has to be stored at literally 700 degrees centigrade because it's from a subterranean species that hibernates in volcanoes and it regenerates at cooler temperatures. Poor Doug, he can only work on it for half an hour at a time before it starts twitching, even with assistance. Anyways, they worked out an oven system that's been attached to the nuclear generator; actually maintainence was rather pleased, because it helps vent excess heat off the system and reduces our thermal pollution."

"That sound amazing, is there any chance I can take a supervised field trip down to the lower levels? Or am I stuck up here until they get a giant, regenerating, sentient squid with dishonorable intentions?" Elizabeth asked, slowly walking around the perimeter of the room, peering at equipment and looking at labels.

"Well if you stay you won't alway be studying cephalopods or their relatives, I consult several other projects on other levels, and I've also got a lab down in Level 4 where I'm working on-"

Someone cleared their throat loudly, cutting off Jane "Doctor Bingley that's beyond Doctor Bennet's clearance." Came a sharp and familiar voice. The two women turned to see Agent Darcy standing at the doorway.


	6. Chapter 6

Hopefully you guys are having as much fun with this as I am, it's a blast and I love hearing what you think! Enjoy!

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Darcy was not clad in the black MCB armour as she had expected he would be in his underwater domain, but looked like an off duty lawyer, slacks and a button up with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. His shoulders were _very_ nicely defined by a black leather shoulder holster, not that she was looking of course. Elizabeth had spent three hours under duress with the man, and she wasn't about to forget it. Her shoulders tensed, fists clenched, and lips pressed into a thin line; there was no reason to think he wouldn't be just as unpleasant this time.

"Apologies William," Jane spoke first, less formally than Elizabeth would have expected, "Though you know it's silly to pretend all the researchers don't talk to each other. If I don't tell her about something, she'll hear about it in the cafeteria, or one of the lounges or the gym, or walking down the hall." she rolled her eyes, but seemed to feel comfortable in the facility director's presence. "There really are few official secrets that get kept down here."

Darcy seemed to acknowledge the validity of this point, but held his ground, "Regardless, let's keep Doctor Bennet's introduction to information that is applicable and clearance level appropriate, for now at least." He turned to Elizabeth, "Doctor Bennet, I hope you're settling in well?"

"Well, I arrived here two hours ago, so I can't really say I've settled in, but most everyone has been welcoming." She was going to try to be polite. for now at least.

"Well good," Darcy replied awkwardly, as if he expected a different answer. "And Jane, I mean Doctor Bingley, has been an adequate guide?"

"She's been wonderful," Elizabeth replied, her tone defensive.

"Elizabeth's being too nice, I accidentally let her set off the alarm getting into the labs, agents showed up, I'm sure you'll get the report tomorrow morning." Jane interjected, grimacing guiltily.

"I do think I heard Reynolds say something about that as I was leaving my office." Darcy commented, no inflection to indicate how he felt about that."Do try to avoid doing that again, false alarms are a waste of resources." The room was silent for an awkward minute, until all were saved by Darcy's phone going off.

"This is Agent Darcy." His face flashed anger as the person spoke. "Injuries? Alright. Send them to my office please. I'll be there shortly. I want a full incident report for this, and any witnesses." And with that he dropped his phone back into his shirt pocket and made his excuses, "I have a matter to attend to. Doctor Bingley, Doctor Bennet, I'm sure I will see both of you soon enough." An inscrutable mask had settled across his features, though his body was radiating with a rage that had begun halfway through the short phone conversation. He left quickly, the door snapping shut behind him.

"I do hope everything's okay." Jane mused, looking at the door.

Elizabeth made a noncommittal noise of agreement and was proud of herself for refraining from observing that Darcy continued to be a stuck up douche, she should stay professional after all.

After taking a tour of the other laboratories on Level one Jane took Elizabeth back, through the offices, and to the living quarters. "There are four floors of living quarters, but they're not sectioned off by department, so you'll have agents, administrators, and researchers all mixed together."

"More of that fostering trust and an open exchange thing?" Elizabeth asked as they rode the elevator down a floor.

"More like saving everyone's sanity." Jane replied, "If you lived right next to your lab mate, or the same agent you patrol with every day you'd go crazy, and as humans are naturally cliquish you'd never meet anyone you didn't work with directly."

"But aren't the agents used to that? I mean I'm betting it's similar military guys, who are deployed with the same unit for months at a time."

"It might be if they weren't trapped underwater, that's really the big difference. When the facility was designed they did a lot of research on the best way to organize an almost completely isolated work and living environment. Barring medical issues or new samples, which really don't come in all that often, the sub goes up maybe once a month for supplies, and generally leave is only granted every 8-12 months. There was some concern that we'd all apparently degenerate into hormonal teenagers and hump like bunnies if they housed men and women in the same areas, but really that doesn't happen."

"I certainly hope some humping happens," Elizabeth responded casually as they stepped into a public living area with three distinct gathering places and a office style kitchen with bar and stools, "You're married Jane, and I'm just going to totally disregard professional boundaries here and say your husband is attractive, fit, and that you should be enjoying all that goodness. Also it's been proven that successful marriages involve regular sex."

Jane looked faintly pink, and quickly peered around the lounge to see if anyone had heard what Elizabeth said, "Well obviously _that_ happens, like you said, we're married. But Charlie and I are a bit of an anomaly, most people down here aren't married. They were worried that non attached people would complicate things."

"Yeah, coworkers/housemates stuck underwater randomly pairing up to do the horizontal tango wouldn't be good." Elizabeth shook her head.

"It still happens occasionally, but not as much as they were worried about. And the mixed living set up helps because if people do decide to do that, it's not generally not their lab mate, or fellow agents, or admin. It actually worked out for one couple, Simon Gibson and Mallory Vorhees, they got married last year, he's an agent and she's in admin. It was such a beautiful wedding; they held it down in the sims room, Walter in Administration is actually ordained, so he officiated, and one of the tech guys wrote a program to make the room into a really beautiful chapel with stained glass windows, and they edited in some amazing bands for the reception. It was quite the party!" Jane smiled at the memory. "Let me check what room you're in, I know it was floor two, one sec!" she fished around in her lab coat pocket for a moment before triumphantly pulling out a piece of paper and reading it, "215, that's this way!" She pointed.

Elizabeth followed Jane across the living area, "So do I get a key or something?" She asked.

"No, this one is facial recognition, it'll scan you at the door and it will open, without a key, but only you can get into your own room. When you're in the room there's a buzzer system, like in apartments, and a screen by the door that lets you see who's there."

They found the room, and as Elizabeth stood before it the door slid open to reveal neutral gray carpet, light cream walls, and a matching queen bed, desk, and dresser set made of some warm colored, dark wood. The bed was not made, but stacked in the middle was a dark purple comforter, cream, several pillows, and purple and white pillow cases perched on the very top. Elizabeth's luggage was stacked at the end of the bed.

"They're really trying to buck the military minimalist vibe aren't they?" She commented, tentatively stepping into the room. There was a sizeable closet and the room, "I don't think I've even seen camo or OD green since we left the Army base in Alaska."

"Well they want this to be a long term facility, ideally with the staff staying for many years. And as researchers we didn't sign up to live like soldiers. They get happier staff, have a more productive program because they supply some creature comforts, like private rooms and less military like organization. Like I said before they did a lot of research on the best way to design the Nautilus for optimization of the researchers, not just the agents or costs."

"Well I do appreciate not being ripped from my life then having to share a bunk bed in a barracks set up. And I get to keep my shoe collection… well some of it at least, but I don't think I'll have much cause for six different pairs of 'Do me' heels down here."

Jane laughed, "No, there really isn't. Though one of the admin departments is all about making sure the staff don't go bonkers, so they organize social events in the different lounges. Caroline's the woman in charge of them, she's still sort of adjusting to life down here, so she can be snappish, but she's great at event coordination and knows how to throw a party!"

"Interesting, and unexpected." Elizabeth nodded, "So what's the deal with the lounge area we passed through to get here? Particularly the little kitchen, does each floor take dinner together?"

"No, main meals are served in the canteen; breakfast from 5-8, lunch from 11-2, and dinner from 4-7. The kitchens in the lounge are for in between meals on weekends, late night snacking, bedtime tea, etc."

Jane's pocket buzzed and she pulled out her phone, "This is Doctor Bingley. Oh okay, I'm in living quarters, give me ten minutes to get there. Alright, see you in just a bit." She turned to Elizabeth apologetically, "I need to go help out with something in the labs, it's Level 3 so I can't bring you, but I should be back in about an hour and we can go to dinner, is that alright?"

"More than fine, it feels like I've been walking for ages, it'll be nice to take a bit of a break." Elizabeth nodded, perching on the edge of the bed.

"You sure you'll be alright?" Jane looked worried, "I could ask someone else…"

"No, don't ever worry about it!" Elizabeth assure her. "It'll give me a chance to unpack."

"Okay…well if you need me, ask anyone and they'll be able to call me, it'll help tomorrow when you've got your own phone." the small woman said still seeming a bit anxious. Her phone beeped again and after a look at the screen she sighed, "Alright I really should go before someone gets poisoned. I'll be back in an hour, tops." Elizabeth nodded once more and Jane exited the room with a swish of the door.

The time was spent in a manner Elizabeth personally found extremely soothing; she made the bed and began unpacking her wardrobe. She had brought 3 full sized suitcases with her filled, almost equally with clothing and books. If she was going to be stuck underwater she wasn't going to be bored to death. She's also brought several posters and prints of her favorite art and a few curios that were of minimal use, but made her feel at home, like her white porcelain dachshund pencil holder and a tiered jewelry holder she'd made from her grandmother's vintage tea set after Lydia had destroyed half the set by pushing the box out of the attic while searching for a box of costumes.

Elizabeth's shoes were lined up neatly along the bottom of the closet when the screen by the door lit up and emitted a soft ding, similar to that of an opening elevator. She was surprised to see Agent Darcy displayed on the screen. Hesitantly she pressed the pad and the door slid open "Agent Darcy, what can I do for you?"

"Doctor Bennet, Doctor Bingley called to ask if I would escort you to the canteen. The issue requiring her help ended up taking more time than she had planned, and due to an unexpected issue with a specimen she was forced to undergo a decontamination cycle. She apologized she couldn't send someone sooner." The man stated.

"Oh my gosh is Jane alright?" Elizabeth asked, worried.

"She's fine, the decontamination cycle is standard operating procedure when skin comes in contact with unknown fluids and materials, merely a precaution." He assured her, "Are you ready to go to the canteen?"

"Umm, yeah, Let me put my shoes back on," she shook her head briefly and signaled him, "you can come in." she was going to apologize for the mess, but then decided not to; who's room doesn't look messy when unpacking.

He stepped just inside the doorway, and stood at parade rest while she navigated stacks of books and half empty suitcases to grab her shoes from by the desk, "How do you prefer to carry?" he asked, his head inclined to her bed where she'd piled her various holsters.

She was surprised by the question, it was almost personable and definitely up her alley, "Depends on what I'm wearing or doing, usually small of the back. I'll appendix carry when it's cold and I'm wearing a lot of layers. When I wear a skirt or dress it's almost always a garter holster for accessibility. I'll wear a back up on my ankle when I'm wearing boots or looser fit pants." She paused, and then added, "Or I would if I was allowed to carry my guns down here. Where are they anyways? I haven't heard anything since I turned over the case to one of the agents that picked me up." Elizabeth stood up and straightened her jacket before walking to the door, indicating her readiness to leave.

"They'll be held at the armoury until both you and they pass certain qualification tests. You must pass a proficiency and psychological evaluation and they need to be vetted with our ammo." He replied, pressing the screen and exiting the room ahead of her.

"What brand do you use down here?" She asked immediately. "My M&P doesn't like Fiocchi for some reason.

"Was your ammo clean and firearm properly lubricated?" He replied, critically.

"Yes, and I've done a little bit of smoothing out on the slide and barrel, but still it won't eject the casing every shot when I use Fiocchi." Elizabeth responded tersely. "It's nothing wrong with my gun, grip, or maintenance of either."

"I see," he nodded as they exited the living quarters and entered the elevator, "Regardless, no, we don't use Fiocchi, we use a specialty ammo composed of a silver polymer, it causes more damage to certain unnaturals than normal ammunition. If you have issues with it our Armoury master is very capable and can help you with machining or picking a new handgun for personal carry purposes."

"Yes, I met Charlie, he's extremely personable," Elizabeth smiled as they exited the elevator. "I can already tell he and Jane are possibly the most perfectly suited couple I've ever met."

"The Bingleys are good people, and as you said, very well suited to each other. I was pleased when they agreed to be stationed at the Nautilus." Darcy nodded.

"Well it is nice they got a choice in the matter." Was Elizabeth's dry reply.

Darcy visibly hardened, "I assure you Doctor Bennet, if I had another equally qualified alternative I would have gladly recruited them instead. However you were the most qualified and least attached candidate available."

"Least attached?" Elizabeth asked incredulously, "And what exactly does that mean?"

"It means exactly what I said," He countered, "While generally like and respected you have very few close, personal relationships. No serious, long term boyfriends or girlfriends ever, and the longest relationship your mentor was aware of was a two month long dalliance with a fellow grad student during your second PhD. While you've networked via several scientific groups, including multiple women in science groups, you rarely meet individuals in person, and the same goes for your involvement in the gun community. You rotate ranges, thus avoiding getting too close to fellow range goers, and when you eat out alone you always bring a book, effectively indicating you are not interested in meeting strangers.

"The closest relationship indicated in your file, aside from your mentor is your father, who is of a similar disposition. Unlike many similarly situated females you do not have a close relationship with your mother or sister, a fact confirmed by comments made by yourself during your recruitment. While those you work with immediately will miss your presence for a while, but ultimately will not be surprised you've traveled to the opposite side of the globe for the sake of your research.

"Compared to the other potential candidates, most of which were married, in serious relationships, attended weekly clubs or gatherings, belonged to mentor programs, or generally had more physical ties with their civilian life, you were the least attached, and with your education, the best potential candidate for relocation to the Nautilus." Darcy stood at a set of doors labeled "Canteen", which slid open.

Elizabeth was at a loss for words. Well to be more accurate she was at a loss for words containing more than four letters, or that didn't beg to be yelled. Through the open doors she saw Agent Lucas lining up at the counter from which the delightful, and highly edible scent emanated. "Thank you for the escort Agent Darcy." she managed through gritted teeth, "Now excuse me." and with that she walked briskly over to the dred locked agent, greeting her with a smile and pointedly ignoring Darcy, who stood by the door for a moment before being greeted by several agents and following them to a table across the room.

Turns out dinner options for that evening were a wild rice chicken soup or a vegetable heavy shepherd's pie. Again Elizabeth was surprised by the Nautilus, with everything tasting fresh and not at all mass produced or processed. She sat with Agent Lucas and Charles Bingley and they discussed their opinions on a new fragmenting round of ammunition. They were joined shortly after by Jane, who was now wearing jeans and a soft pink sweater, her red hair still dark from the decontamination showers. Elizabeth was introduced to several more individuals, including several researchers and one of the tech guys.

As it was a Tuesday everyone was inclined to retire early. Steven, a fellow researcher she met during dinner, worked in level 2 labs and lived in the same hall as her. He showed Elizabeth how to get back and gave her a brief run down on the communal bathroom situation, which was a setup very similar to a college dorm. By the time 9 pm rolled around Elizabeth was mostly unpacked and completely exhausted. She changed into her favorite pair of flannel pajamas, adorned with little squid, and fell into bed. She forced herself not to think about what Darcy had said; she knew she wasn't the best at the interpersonal relationship thing, but to have it stated so bluntly by someone she hardly knew was hard. It was also vaguely disturbing that so much of her life was in a file. She forced it from her mind and snapped off the bedside lamp.

"At least I survived day one." Elizabeth sighed, staring at the ceiling, before rolling onto her side and snuggling into the sheets, "Bring it day two."


	7. Chapter 7

Hey Guys! Just a heads up this chapter is a little messy, literally and a bit figuratively. There's some blood and guts to be aware of if you're squeamish and I'm afraid I've been a little scattered the past couple days because what fun is life if it doesn't throw you for a loop sometime :) Anyways, Let me know what you think!

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As it happened, day one was the most difficult day of Elizabeth's first month at the Nautilus. She soon found an easy rhythm to her subaquatic life and eagerly dived into examining luska physiology and tissue composition. Elizabeth found Jane to be a knowledgeable, considerate, generally delightful lab companion, and together they go along famously. As there were just under thirty researchers in the facility Elizabeth got to know most of them fairly quickly, and her normally reserved nature in professional settings was subverted by her absolute fascination with all of the research being done at the Nautilus.

As Jane had said, with the frequency that researchers discussed their work, it was impossible for Elizabeth not to find out about the other projects. She hypothesized a potential solution for Doug's regenerating reptoid sample problem: pumping an augmented, superheated liquid barium mixture through it's veins to keep internal temperature high and the sample from regenerating. Unfortunately that possibility was limited by the fact that little was known about the reptoid's cellular needs. They also discussed the efficacy of just beheading it, but there was some evidence to suggest it was a relation to the hydra, and they didn't want more specimens to deal with.

Harrison, from level 4, was the head researcher dedicated to the staked vampire on level 4, though almost all the researchers consulted on it. The topic often presented itself, and when it did agents griped about the dangers and additional security requirements and researchers suggested further tests and information that might be collected before the vampire was beheaded and it's remains burned. Similarly to workers who handled radioactive materials, there was a limit on time spent in the vampire lab, which was carefully monitored to avoid complacency. Six agents were stationed inside the lab and spent the entirety of each shift with their rifles pointed at the vamp. They and the research staff wore full kevlar stab proof armour, though the reality was that if the vampire mobilized it would provide very little protection. The specimen itself was stored in a bath of ethanol, to avoid any particulate or sediment that might have been found in the soil of its homeland, which was legend to give a vampire increased strength. There was constant surveillance on the vampire, and when it wasn't being worked on it was stored in cryo storage, cold enough to make the ethanol freeze solid. Psychological tests were performed weekly to assure that the immobilized vampire was not using any form of compulsion on the agents or researchers. It was super intense, but excessively alluring to everyone in the facility, like studying anthrax was to world superpowers in the mid to late 20th century.

Jane's level 4 project, the one she wasn't supposed to discuss with Elizabeth, was working with one of the MHI hunters to develop a vaccine against zombie infection. It wouldn't protect the dead against being raised by black magic, but it would limit the risk to agents and hunters, who were more likely to come across them. Ideally it would eventually become a standard vaccine for the population, like the MMR, but the required secrecy and the anti-vaccine movement limited that potential. The hunter, Gigi, and several of her coworkers from different MHI teams had been collecting samples whenever their teams responded to a zombie outbreak. Gigi and Jane were currently working on extracting the virus responsible from the tissues, along with all the samples submitted to MCB as proof for a PUFF bounty. Having been rather interested in virology during her first graduate program, Elizabeth was hoping to gain clearance to level 4 soon enough to help them with the research.

Other highlights of Elizabeth's first month's stay at the Nautilus included going down to the armoury and passing her Smith and Wesson M&P with the specialty ammunition used by MCB. She was scheduled for the psychological evaluation with a Doctor Collins soon, so he could see if she'd properly acclimatized to the unique living environment and wouldn't go try to shoot up the place. Not having a firearm on her felt a little bit like walking around naked. Even if she could go down to the shooting range on level two whenever she liked, she was looking forward to being able to carry again.

After the heated discussion Elizabeth had had with Darcy outside of the canteen, they mutually avoided each other. She rarely had to endure his presence, and never alone. When they were forced to interact with each other, it was with sharp and exacting civility that could never be mistaken for friendliness. After noticing the icy atmosphere that built whenever the two were in vicinity of each other Jane demanded to know what had happened.

"Elizabeth, I have seen you get along or at least be friendly with everyone you've met so far; so what in the world happened between you and William?" Jane asked one afternoon, as they were charting the luska digestive system. "I swear it's like you're either going to stab each other or start a rousing game of hide the cucumber." Jane paused, the scalpel she held covered in bright purple luska blood, and looked at Elizabeth across the dissection table, "Or maybe a combination of the two? Either way, it's bad. Hate sex is really unhealthy physically and mentally, screws with the chemicals released at orgasm. Would you hold that flap back, I think we found the stomach."

"You noticed?" Elizabeth asked, self consciously, pulling back one of the flaps created when they'd sliced open the luska from the bottom pallet of the shark face to the intersection of two tentacles.

"Everyone has noticed, except perhaps Charlie; bless him, he's not the best at taking the the temperature of a room. At least for social interactions, when it's a matter of safety I swear he has a sixth sense." Jane ran her hand along the green colored esophagus, "Interesting, testes up by the head, like a shark." she carefully moved aside two purple sacks that looked very similar to small eggplants, before slicing the gut sack open.

"Buuut pre digestive pouch like an octopus." Elizabeth commented as she saw the familiar structure, "that's weird, in the octopus it helps act as a sort of mouth for larger prey…"

"Maybe it's like a cow's multiple stomachs, we'll have to ask Jeremy, he dealt with a demon cow outbreak in Nebraska a few years ago." Jane replied, "Now answer the question."

"Darcy was being an ass, so I was an ass right back and then he stepped out of line." Elizabeth stated, obviously annoyed at the question.

"Well he's not the most person skilled, but he normally behaves himself rather well. Should leave the testes intact for now, or remove them?"

"They're not terribly in the way, let's leave them be until we finish with digestion, then we'll start with the genitourinary tract, besides, aren't they under the chin in platypus and behind the head in sharks, that's going to be weird." Elizabeth nodded, "And the guy just rubs me the wrong way, he has from day one. Major douche, super bossy…"

"He is the director of the Nautilus." Jane reminded kindly, "Would you pass those clamps please?"

"Yeah, here. But it's like everytime he speaks he expects me to say something stupid, or screw up in some other way. Oh, did I tell you he lives a hallway down from me, so we use the same bathroom? I mean really? I have to see his stupid face in the mornings when I still look like a mess. I swear he waits for me too. I have the overwhelming urge to punch the guy… constantly."

"Have you always been so aggressively inclined?" Jane asked mildly, clamping the tubes leading to the stomach, "Do you want to examine the pre-digestive pouch contents?"

"Yes, I'll take the pouch," Elizabeth replied, gathering a syringe with a large gauge needle, carefully piercing the organ and pulling the plunger up, filling the syringe with neon yellow juices. "And for the record my dad took me to Judo and Krav Maga since I was four and shooting once it was legal, so yes, I've always been this aggressive. It does have it's uses, have you tried to get forty pounds of muscle into an octopot, underwater?"

"Can't say I haven't done too much octopus wrangling, but if it's like giving a nurse sharks a check up, then I assume they're a pain in the butt." came Jane's response, as she carefully pushed fluids through the tube connecting the pre-digestive pouch and the stomach, and clamped it off. "But back to the point I was making, I really think if you and William could drop the arctic conditions with each other for a few minutes, you'd really get along."

"I doubt it." Elizabeth replied going in for another aliquot of gastric juices to empty the pouch. "I think we're good how we are now, which is not speaking to each other."

"That's a bit immature, don't you think?"

"No, immature would be telling him to suck it and that without his goons for back up when I was being forcibly recruited I could have taken him down in three seconds flat." Elizabeth snorted, her comment punctuated by the pressured stream of juices she was t into transfering into the sample bottle.

"I'm going to be honest here and say I think you're being more than a little optimistic. William is a highly trained, government special agent whose job it is to kill monsters, he's gotten many promotions for his remarkable skill in killing monster, and while rather frightening, you're not exactly a monster." Jane stated as if she were laying out a thesis defense.

"If he's so good at killing monsters why did they stick him down here with all the dead ones?"

"Elizabeth you must know that for an MCB agent, this is one of the most prestigious postings available. The fact that William's been put in charge of it say volumes about what MCB Director Meyers thinks about his skill and abilities as a leader." At this point Jane sounded the closest to annoyed as was possible for such a naturally sweet tempered woman.

"Mommy and daddy Darcy must have been a CEO and a g-man, no other way someone like him exists without significant genetic engineering." Elizabeth muttered, squirting the pre-gastric juices into a glass bottle.

"Elizabeth, enough!" Jane dropped the scalpel and forceps on metal dissecting table, making a loud clang. "I may not have met them, but the Darcys and Bingleys have been friends for years, and absolutely everyone says Admiral and Mrs. Darcy were some of the loveliest people. They were involved in their community, well respected military family, they worked with a lot of charities and veterans associations, and they didn't deserve what happened to them," Jane was tearing up at this point, a thin rivulet running down her cheek. "No one deserves that!"

"Jane, I'm so sorry, but I wasn't trying to talk badly about his parents, I was being an ass because I don't like Darcy, but you're right, he'd probably wipe the floor with me." Elizabeth said, her stomach dropped in guilt as she carefully screwed the cap on the bottle in her hand. "What happened to Darcy's parents?"

"I don't think I'm supposed to talk about it." Jane sniffed, looking for somewhere to wipe her nose and eventually settling on her apron covered shoulder, which was the only part of her that wasn't covered in luska blood and various other fluids. "Charlie didn't even tell me until after we were married, and I've never heard it from Will. Just know that Anne and William Sr. were really good people, and I adore you, but please never say anything like that again, around anyone, Charlie would be so hurt if he heard that."

"Of course I wouldn't, I'm so sorry." Elizabeth assured her. "Why don't we call it a day on dissection, I don't think we want to cut out the rest of the digestive tract today, and to be honest and say that I don't want to end my day with a colon. I'll work on the pre gastric juices."

"Yes," Jane sniffed again, "Let's call it a day, do you want me to close it up? I told Charlie I'd meet him at the armoury before dinner, but-"

"No, I got it, you go." Elizabeth replied instantly, "And Jane, I'm really sorry for being such a jerk. I'm not going to suddenly be buds with Darcy, but I won't talk smack about him, okay?"

"Thank you," Jane nodded, "William really is a wonderful guy when you get to know him. When Charlie and I first started dating I thought Will hated me too, but it turns out he's just kind of shy about new people is all. Lighten up around him and maybe you'll see it too."

Elizabeth was thoughtful as she carefully repackaged the luska's organs inside it's body and closed the flaps shut, rehooking the wide leather bands that held the main body closed. As she had just told Jane, she wasn't going to be best friends with the guy any time soon; the fact she had befriended Jane, and Charlotte too, so quickly was abnormal for her, to say the least. While he'd been an ass about it, Darcy hadn't been wrong when he said she didn't look to make connections. Elizabeth's standard operating procedure for life was to avoid the unnecessary: time suckers like social media, gaudy furniture her mother wanted her to buy, relationship with dissimilarly minded men, no matter how interested they might have been. For Elizabeth relationships were best developed carefully, and quality far outweighed quantity. She wasn't purposefully antisocial, she was just very happy spending time with herself when those she did like weren't available. Much better to be capable of being alone, like her father was, than to have your happiness so dependant on the presence of others, like her mother and sister.

Elizabeth sighed as she peeled the luska fluid drenched gloves from her hands and dropped them in the bright red biohazard container. Darcy may be a giant douche bag, but half the theories of science were discovered by douche bags (have you heard about Watson and Crick?), and that didn't mean their findings were wrong. Grudgingly committing herself to being more polite to the facility director, Elizabeth wheeled the luska into the lab's sub zero freezer. It would be for Jane, for the sake of this new relationship, it couldn't be _that_ bad… right?


	8. Chapter 8

Hey all! Sorry about last week. I had a chapter written but it was terrible and I had too many tests to reasonable excuse the time it would take to finish it. I like most of this one, but I figured better to post something than not post for two weeks in a row. Just general heads up my semester is heating up and I might not make weekly postings, but as I really do enjoy this I'll do my best! As always I love to hear what you think! 

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Do you know that karmic influence that, when one commits to new goal or standard, suddenly causes that thing to be impossible to avoid? For example when you start a diet, coworkers start bring in donuts every day. Or when you commit to do your homework as soon as possible and Netflix puts every single season of your favorite show up? This is what Elizabeth had prepared herself for upon the inner declaration to behave around Darcy. She expected to be bombarded with the nearly constant presence of him, assumed he'd be in the communal bathroom in the morning, show up in the office or lab throughout the day, and probably decide to join her as she watched a show or two in the evenings to wind down. But that didn't happen.

Elizabeth was surprised to find that she saw less of Darcy than ever before during the following weeks. The immature part of her did a happy dance, while the stubborn part was disappointed that she wasn't allowed the chance to prove to Jane that she could be civil. He'd apparently changed his morning routine, because she no longer saw him in the mornings, and he was hardly to be found in the canteen during meals. Elizabeth regularly saw his assistant, Agent Reynolds, carrying two meal trays out of the canteen and down the hallway to the administration offices. Jane and Charlie had been discussing Darcy's absence one afternoon and Charlie said there were some administrative issues that had been particularly troublesome, the difficulty of being a secret government entity was that the few people who did know about MCB assumed they had a say in everything, including areas far outside their expertise.

Of more immediate concern to Elizabeth was her appointment with the facility psychologist. Her trial month had passed and she had been booking forward to being cleared and able to carry again. The appointment had been strange to say the least.

Doctor Collins was an awkward, wiry fellow with thinning hair and thick glasses. He was also a devoted disciple of Freud. Which meant that Elizabeth was asked to recline on a chaise and face a large stuffed orange dog. She assumed Doctor Collins was attempting to mimic Freud's use of his dog Jofi, where patients would see the dog's reaction to their revelations instead of Freud's. While she had no doubt it worked with real dogs, the stuffed replica had creepy eyes and frankly, was insulting. While most of Doctor Collin's questions were to the purpose of determining her attitude about the facility, her coworkers, and the management of the Nautilus, there were a few questions he asked that seemed completely unrelated, and frankly disturbing… mostly about her relationship with her parents. There were also the occasional, innocuous statements that had the feeling of a come on, but didn't outright qualify as such; it made Elizabeth's skin crawl.

Fortunately, after a grueling two hours of awkward questioning, Doctor Collins declared she was cleared to carry, "I see absolutely no reason you'd be unqualified to carry your firearm." He announced, standing up, "Or anything else you might be considering." This was punctuated with a creepy eyebrow raise, "I'll send the appropriate paperwork to the facility director for final confirmation; he is of course the final word on all issues."

"Well thank you Doctor Collins, I appreciate it." Elizabeth proffered her hand, he had a limp handshake.

"You are most welcome Doctor Bennet," He took a step closer, "You know you are more than welcome to stop by at any time at all. You company was most pleasurable." the man drew out the last word in a way that made Elizabeth want to wash her hands, and everything else.

"I appreciate the offer," She replied noncommittally, stepping back, towards the door. "But I best be going, back to work you know. I'm sure I'll see you around." And with that she quickly grabbed the door handle and darted out of Doctor Collin's office.

"It was a pleasure!" He called out behind her.

Elizabeth cringed as she made her escape. The psychologist's office was located on the same floor as main administration and, because she wasn't looking where she was going, halfway down the hallway she collided with a very solid body. "Sorry!" She squeaked, taking a step back, but her heel snagged on the industrial carpet and she began to fall backwards, very ungracefully. A hand shot out and grabbed her upper arm in time to stop her landing on her butt. Looking up she felt she shouldn't have been surprised to see Agent Darcy before her; that didn't mean she wasn't surprised, or that she wasn't terribly embarrassed by it all.

"Doctor Bennet, are you alright?" He asked, looking concerned. Oddly, Elizabeth noticed, he wasn't wearing either his agent armour or his director suit, but was in exercise clothes. It was clear he'd been working out, his gray t shirt was damp, and his dark hair was slightly curly at the temples, where sweat still shown. Even more odd was how self conscious Elizabeth felt seeing him in this slightly less official state; even when she occasionally saw him in the bathroom he always had a robe on over his pajamas, though that had been rare as of late.

"Yes, I'm just fine," Elizabeth smiled tightly, "Just stuck in my own head, you know how shrinks do that, make you over think the way you think." Things like restraining orders, but that might have just been the first impression, and she wasn't quite ready to share it with her boss.

"Ah yes, your psych eval for personal firearm carry." Darcy nodded, "I assume all went well?"

"That's what Doctor Collins said anyways, the paperwork should probably pass your desk in the next day or two."

"I'll keep an eye out for them." He looked at her, expression hard, "Are you sure you're all right? Should I ask for an agent to escort you somewhere? Your office or your rooms? I have a meeting with the head agent, but obviously I need to freshen up first, I could have him take you."

"No, really I'm fine." Elizabeth assured him, "Just need to look where I'm going, sorry I ran into you."

He smile, and it seemed genuine. "Don't worry about it, I just spent an hour in the simulators with a team of agents, and you're much nicer than a horde of wights, real or not."

"Gotcha," Elizabeth nodded, "Well, I'll let you get to your meeting."

"It was good to see you, Doctor Bennet."

"Same, Agent Darcy." And with that Elizabeth quickly passed him and walked down the hall as fast as she nonchalantly could manage. Her appointment with Doctor Collins before had most definitely set her off kilter, which made Elizabeth's interaction with Darcy seem strained and awkward, at least to her. That being said she could report a successful interaction with Darcy that involved no sharp words exchanged, and no supervision require.

Elizabeth headed to the canteen for dinner, and found Jane and Charlie sitting in their usual corner. She joined them, but was only half listening to their conversation about emails from Jane's mother about some home town gossip, instead occupied by mentally dissecting her session with Doctor Collins and what had been so strange about it.

Her attention was reclaimed by reality when Charlotte set her tray down and asked how her evaluation went. "If you passed you get to carry your gun again, and I think the entire Nautilus knows you've been pissed you can't."

"I think it went well," Elizabeth nodded, twirling her fork in bowl of thai curry chicken with noodles. "And I don't mean to be dramatic, but it's been like not wearing a bra in public, it just feels wrong."

"I know it feels wrong for me when I don't have my bra on." snickered Hernandez, who'd sat down with Charlotte.

"With man boobs like that, you need one." Charlotte taunted. "What are you bench pressing lately?"

"Harsh Lucas," the fellow agent mocked self consciousness, holding his hands up to cover his chest, "And I bench more than you weigh, thank you very much!"

"You should be, I probably weigh at least sixty pounds less than you do. If you couldn't bench my weight I'd be disappointed." she retorted, eyebrow raised in a challenge.

"320." The big man replied proudly, and Elizabeth noticed him visibly swell as he puffed out his chest.

"Congrats, that's almost two of me." Charlotte nodded in approval. "If you work hard, just maybe you can go up a cup size." she joked, elbowing him in his very beefy arm.

"I'm already what, a D?" He asked, alternatingly flexing his pectorals. Charlotte rolled her eyes, but laughed.

"Double D at least." Elizabeth appraised, laughing as well. "You have a harder time finding pretty bras, so good luck with that."

"That's not fair." Hernandez frowned, "I deserve to feel pretty too!"

"You're very pretty Marc, but you're also on vamp cam duty in ten, I'd head over to the surveillance room now." Charlotte reminded the fellow agent, "Parker is in charge tonight and I think his girlfriend broke up with him, with the long distance, half truths, full lies, and everything; he's in crap mood."

"Dammit." The large man grabbed his tray and stood up from the table, "Bennet good to see you, Lucas thanks for the heads up." He paused, then winked suggestively, "Maybe we could get together and compare cup size later." and with that he jogged out of the canteen, carefully holding his tray out in front of him.

"Were you and Marc flirting?" Elizabeth asked as Charlotte returned to her stirfry. "I mean as a woman of science, I am more responsive to a 'talk nerdy to me' line of action; so, you know, biochemistry really turns me on… though that might have been caused by some poor decisions made with this one study partner… Regardless, is bench pressing of similar effect for agents? Because all of that sounded like flirting to me."

"That was just joking around." Charlotte replied, though she didn't make eye contact. "It's what we do, call each other's crap, make sure you're training hard."

"Training, yes, clearly Marc wants to train with you, on the matts, probably naked. Now I wish I had some air samples to prove the pheromones you two were shedding."

"What's shedding?" Jane asked, turning from her husband to look at Elizabeth and Charlotte.

"Absolutely nothing." Charlotte replied sternly. "Nothing is shedding, anywhere."

"Be careful contradicting a scientist, we tend to prove our answers, no matter what it might take." Elizabeth warned, her voice light, but her eyes serious.

"Should I even ask what she's talking about?" Jane inquired.

"No, don't bother, she's barking up the wrong tree anyways." Charlotte replied to Jane before turning back to Elizabeth "So back to your psych eval, you think it went well?"

"That's was Doctor Collins said." Elizabeth shrugged, "He's a bit of an odd duck, isn't he?"

"Yes, yes he is." Jane nodded, "Very interested in Freud."

"Freud was an addict, wasn't he?" Charlotte asked, curious.

Elizabeth smirked, "Yeah, he used heroin to get over an opium addiction."

"That sounds like a solid choice right there." Charlotte scoffed, "Is Collins following suit?"

"No, of course not!" Jane shook her head, "Howard isn't a drug abuser, he's simply… quirky?"

"You are too nice for your own good." Elizabeth shook her head.

At that moment Doctor Collins walked into the canteen and immediately spotted Elizabeth at her table. He waved enthusiastically before turning to the serving line. Elizabeth returned a hesitant, tight smile.

"Better watch out Elizabeth," Charlotte muttered in her ear, "Looks like someone's smitten."

"He's just being quirky, right?" Elizabeth asked, brow furrowed.

"He's not known for being so enthusiastic, Elizabeth," Jane shrugged. "Just be careful."

"On the bright side you'll be armed soon." Charlotte laughed.

"Definitely a bright side!" Elizabeth smiled. "I've missed my baby!"

Jane just rolled her eyes. "You guys are weird."


	9. Chapter 9

Hey All! I was traveling, which is why this chapter was late, but I like it, so thats a bonus! I did some actual storyline mapping and I think we're about halfway through the total story, but things are always subject to change. Enjoy!

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Dear Doctor Bennet,

Your request to be assigned to the Zombie Vaccine project has been received, and it currently underconsideration. You have a meeting with Agent Darcy, Nautilus Director, and Agent Fitzwilliam, Head of Security, at 14:00 this Thursday.

Thank You,

Agent Reynolds.

"What is Darcy's assistant's first name?" Elizabeth asked curiously, having wandered into Jane's office and was now sitting on a filing cabinet flipping though test results on tissue composition of the luska from various parts of it's body. "I've never heard anyone call him anything other than Reynolds."

"His name is Victor." Jane replied, eyes glued to the screen before her, "What makes you ask?"

"He emailed and scheduled an appointment with me to meet with Darcy and the Head of Security to determine if I can skip procedure and earn level 4 clearance to help you and Gigi on the Zombie vaccine project."

"Ohh I do hope you're granted the clearance, Gigi and I have way too much to do, and unfortunately Nate, while a dear, sweet boy, is not very useful in a laboratory."

"Well I'd love to have something on my plate besides the Luska project. I mean it's awesome, but it's becoming a bit monotonous." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, "But why give clearance to Nate Shackleford if he doesn't have the training?"

"He's a hothead, which makes him a good hunter, but also means he's not great in confined spaces." Came a voice from the doorway, "Combine that with being a hunter in a facility full of agents, it's not good… Basically Nate is allowed in Level 4 labs because if he wasn't in there, being babysat, he'll go pick a fight with whoever's off duty."

Elizabeth and Jane looked up to see Gigi standing in the doorway, a faintly dismayed Nate poking out from behind her froth of dark curls. "That makes sense." Elizabeth shrugged. "I suppose I can deal with that reasoning."

"I'm a hothead? Really?" Nate asked incredulously.

"And a Glock head to boot, if the fight you were trying to pick at the armoury last week is any indication." Elizabeth smirked.

"Can you explain why else William explicitly told me to never leave you unattended?" Gigi shot over her shoulder.

"Are you sure it's not the other way around?" He countered slyly. "Maybe he just doesn't want his baby sis wandering these hallways filled with all these overly testosteroned GI Joe agents."

"One, I wouldn't let Charlotte let hear you calling her overly testosteroned; that's just rude, and inaccurate considering how pretty she is. And two, my brother said nothing about me not being allowed to wander around alone, just you, after that fist fight you go into on the way here." Gigi responded, in exasperation.

"Wait? Darcy's your brother?" Elizabeth asked, surprised.

"You didn't know?" Jane replied, equally surprised.

"That's what they tell me anyways." Gigi smiled, and Elizabeth realized it greatly resembled the smile very occasionally worn by the facility director. "It's one of Will's greatest disappointments that I didn't go the government employee route and join MCB like him. I had to be a rebel and join Monster Hunters International instead."

"To be fair you had pretty great incentive." Nate winked, running a hand through his hair.

"Yes, your sister gave an excellent recruitment speech." Gigi laughed dryly.

"Or you met a handsome, yummy, bad boy hunter you just couldn't resist."

"Don't think I joined your family's business because of you, I did it to kill monsters, and if we're being honest, I wanted to piss of Will."

"But now you're here? Does that mean you stopped rebelling?" Elizabeth asked, still trying to grasp the idea that Gigi was Darcy's little sister. It's not that they were entirely dissimilar, but Gigi was far more personable than Darcy had ever managed, even when he was actually trying.

"Well I have mostly, but I'm not switching to become a MCB agent. Over Christmas, last year, I was telling Will this idea I'd been working on to create a vaccine for the zombie virus. Nate's brother in law, Owen got-"

Nate elbowed her sharply in the side and muttered, "We're not supposed to talk about that."

"Ow! Okay, well something happened and I saw how useful it could be for people like hunters and agents to have a vaccine they could get against most of the zombie viruses, so they didn't get turned during missions. I asked a couple other nerds on the other hunting teams to start taking extra samples of zombie tissues when they were taking PUFF samples. They've been sending them to me for over a year, and when I mentioned it to Will he said they'd been looking into the same thing here. Then a month later my boss called, and Earl calling a newbie is a big deal, even if I was sort of seeing his... well, Nate…. Anyways Earl said the Director of MCB called and wanted me to come to here to help with this project. It's been great to see Will almost every day, instead of maybe once a year, like it's been since he was posted down here."

"He's been happier since you've been down here." Jane smiled. "Not much less busy, mind you, particularly with Nate trying to fight with everyone he sees, but much happier."

"Well I wouldn't say I try to fight _everyone,_ " Nate countered.

"True, you've left the female staff well enough alone." Gigi smiled at Nate before turning her attention back to "Anyways, has my brother given you the clearance to help out on the project?"

"Hopefully, I'm meeting with him and the head of security on Thursday." Elizabeth shrugged. "I mean I know I should work my way through the clearance levels, but clearly you didn't either, so they should consider this whole project excluded from that rule."

"Will doesn't like breaking the rules, but he'll get around to granting clearance eventually. And if he's too slow about it I'll have to ask my Aunt Maddie to send me his picture from prom. He hasn't always been the stud some people think he is." Gigi grinned evilly.

It was clear that Elizabeth would work well with the younger Darcy.

The week went by quickly, and soon enough it was Thursday. Elizabeth's morning was spent in the lab, plating cultures taken from the luska's intestinal tract. There was a good chance they were no longer viable, due the freezing, thawing, and refreezing, but it was something of interest that had come up a few weeks ago when Elizabeth had been talking with Doctor Hayes, who was working in the lab next door, on shoggoth remains. While not all specimens came to the facility fully intact, she was thinking about writing up a procedure of what samples to take and test to run in a particular order to get as much information from a sample as possible. Obviously it would not apply to every specimen that crossed the threshold, like the reptoid sample on level 3, but if necropsy protocols were enhanced, for microbial and biochemical research as well as to learn anatomy, so much more could be learned, despite the relative lack of specimens available.

Having placed the rainbow stack of streaked petri dishes into the incubator Elizabeth glanced at the clock and realized she was going to be late. Tossing her gloves in the biohazard bin on the way out the door, she rushed out of the labs, quickly deposited her lab coat in her office, and changed from her close toed lab clogs to the teal heels that actually matched the purple skirt and black and white polka dot sweater she was wearing. The price one pays for safety.

Fortunately Darcy's office was on the first floor as well and she arrived at Agent Reynold's desk only a few minutes past two. "Sorry I'm late, Reynolds!" She apologized.

"I'll let him know you're here." the agent replied, giving her a strange look. he pressed a button on his headset, "Agent Darcy, Sir, you're two o'clock is here. Alright." Turning back to Elizabeth he inclined his head towards the office door. "He's ready for you."

Elizabeth smiled and opened the door.

"Doctor Bennet, good to see you, please come in and have a seat." Darcy spoke from his own chair on one side of the desk, he was looking at a thick file. There were two chairs facing him, one of which was filled by another agent wearing black BDUs and was looking at her oddly.

"Doctor Bennet, this is Agent Calvin Fitzwilliam, the Head Agent at the Nautilus, Fitzwilliam, this is Doctor Elizabeth Bennet, currently assigned to the Luska project." Darcy introduced them, still without looking up from the pages before him.

"Pleasure to meet you Doctor Bennet," Agent Fitzwilliam stood and extended a hand of greeting, smiled pleasantly, though still sporting that odd look.

"Same Agent Fitzwilliams. I've seen you around the facility, obviously, it's kind of hard to not see everyone, but I don't think we've met before." Elizabeth firmly returned his handshake. "And Agent Darcy, I apologize for being late, I lost track of time streaking."

This caused Darcy to look up in surprise, "Streaking?" He asked, eyebrows raised. Agent Fitzwilliam coughed awkwardly.

"Streaking." She replied, oblivious to why he felt the need to clarify this point. "I was taking samples of gut bacteria from the luska and streaking them on various agar, I lost track of time."

"Streaking agar." He visibly relaxed. "I perhaps would have used the term 'plating' instead. 'Streaking' could be misunderstood."

"Oh!" Elizabeth realized her mistake and flushed, "Sorry, I forget that's something else for normal people."

"Quite alright." Darcy nodded. There was a short pause, "Doctor Bennet I must ask if you always wear goggles to meetings, or is today just a special event? Same goes for the thermometer poking out of your pony tail."

"I knew I left that somewhere!" She exclaimed, reaching to pull the tube out of her hair. "Don't worry it's not used, and you'll have to excuse the goggles lines, they're never pretty." she added, pulling the green visor goggles off her face and holding the two items in her lap, now understanding the strange looks she had received. "And again, I apologize for running late, like I said, I lost track of time."

"Not a problem Doctor Bennet, but now that we've cleared up the streaking and goggles issues, I believe we can proceed to the topic planned for this meeting, your request to join the Zombie vaccine project." Darcy glanced at his notes once more. "Fitzwilliam, any thought on the matter?"

"Well first, Doctor Bennet, may I call you Elizabeth?"

She nodded in assent, "As long as I can call you Calvin."

"Most people call me Fitz." He shrugged, "Anyways, Elizabeth I do have some concerns on putting a Level 1 researcher in Level 4 labs. It's absolutely nothing against you personally, however I am in charge of security, and I don't want to have to deal with a zombie outbreak down here; if we're being honest, I have nightmares about that on a weekly basis."

"I understand your concern Fitz, but I'm well versed in biosafety level 4 protocol, and from what Jane and Gigi have said, they're operating well below that level of protocol." Elizabeth replied.

"It's true you are qualified in regards to biosafety protocols, however my concern stems from your lack of formal training in virology." Darcy interjected, "The entire purpose of the project is to develop a human safe vaccine against selected strains of the zombie virus. I think I speak for all of us potential recipient when I say I'd prefer it be created by someone with the appropriate credentials."

"How familiar are you with virology, Agent Darcy?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow in challenge.

"I understand the standard CDC level qualifications for vaccine work." He replied, his tone mild, but his posture gearing up for a fight. "And I'm afraid you do not have those qualifications."

A switch flipped in Elizabeth. She was used to being questioned about her qualifications, usually in regards to her sex. While she knew this wasn't the case Elizabeth still felt very much defensive."Yes but do you understand the molecular and biochemical processes of viral fusion, uncoating, gene expression, and lysis from the cell? Or the Baltimore classification of viruses? Or do you know that every virus works differently, and particularly with a Class VI, retrovirus? Because that's what I can only assume the classification of the viruses we'll be looking at will be." Nothing in her tone could be mistaken for anything but annoyance and anger.

"Or, Agent Darcy, were you aware that to date, most viral species science is aware of have been found in the ocean? Or that a third of my thesis was covering cephalopod diseases, many of which are viral? Please tell me, Agent Darcy, just how qualified YOU are to determine how much I know about virology?"

There was a long, awkward pause.

"She does make a point Will…" Fitzwilliam stated tentatively.

"Yes, I did hear her say it." Darcy responded tartly before turning his full attention to Elizabeth. "Doctor Bennet, I was aware that a good portion of your thesis covered cephalopod diseases. Doctor Bingley mentioned it during the selection process, and I am aware of the topics of all the papers you've published, even if I'm not well versed in the technical specifics."

"Then did you miss that part of my resume where I spent a year's worth of lab hours during my undergraduate in a virology lab? I may not have a PhD specifically in Virology, however I have more than enough training and experience to work in the Army Bioweapons program that supposedly doesn't exist, so I sure as hell qualify to work on the freaking zombie virus project." Elizabeth shot back. "Seriously, I've had job offers from them, though they had the decency to let me decline the job. Since you don't extend that consideration, I'm sure you can grant me the necessary clearance to work on a project I find intellectually stimulating and professionally relevant."

"And perhaps you could consider my position, as director of a small facility where, despite constant requests, I am not actually able to give everyone every single thing they want. That automatically granting the requests of a researcher that has been here for less than two months might cause issues with other researchers who have been petitioning me for their various project needs and requests for months. And," His voice was raised at this point, while not quite shouting, was louder than she'd ever heard him speak. "while you have made it quite clear that you did not have the choice whether or not you were going to to be here, you are. You, Doctor Elizabeth Bennet, are currently in the MCB research facility, the Nautilus, underwater, off the northern coast of Alaska, and according to all sources you're enjoying it. Your co-workers all report positive interactions with you, the facility psychologist has determined you're mentally fit and happy, and my best friends wife talk about you like you're sisters. Have you ever considered, Doctor Bennet, that perhaps you are better off in this facility, professionally and personally, that you would have ever been in traditional academia? And if you would consider that, perhaps you would not constantly feel the need to bring up your manner of recruitment, which was done TO SERVE HUMANITY, much less the United States Government."

A long, hard silence followed. Elizabeth was shocked, and Darcy looked like he was wavering between being proud that he'd said what he did and disturbed by his loss of personal control.

"Erm, perhaps we should reconvene this meeting at a different time." Fitzwilliam said finally.

"I don't know what else I could possibly tell you that you don't obviously already know." Elizabeth replied icily.

"Agreed." Darcy added, stiffly, "I think we know quite enough to determine your eligibility for the position."

"Well then." Fitzwilliam inhaled deeply, before continuing in a forced good humor, "Doctor Bennet, it was a pleasure to meet you, and I think we'll wait a week or two, look more closely at your resume, and then make a decision on your appointment to the Zombie Vaccine project."

Elizabeth nodded sharply and stood to leave. "Good to meet you as well Agent Fitzwilliam."

As she was walking towards the door it flew open and a woman in a bright orange sheath dress and 6 inch nude heels, sporting a sharp dark bob burst in, "William! I hope you don't mind, Reynolds said you were occupied, but I absolutely need your opinion on the h'orderves the chef wants to make for the party next weekend!" She was holding a large, multilayer tupperware and seemed oblivious to the chill temperature of the room. Reynolds was standing at the doorway, looking frustrated.

Darcy nodded at Reynolds,indicating it was okay and turned his attention to the newcomer, "Caroline." He sounded tired.

"Oh William, You must try this canape first, it's simply divine!" the woman continued, ignoring Elizabeth and Reynolds.

"Well clearly you've got more to see to Darcy," Fitzwilliam stood, "I'll just escort Doctor Bennet out, I actually have another matter to discuss with her, just a little question regarding squids and such."

"Didn't we need to talk-" Darcy began, clearly not wanting to be left alone with the orange woman.

"No, I think it's best if we hold off on any of that discussion until later." Fitz smirked, "Caroline, he's all yours. Put his superior palette to good use!" Fitz took a few large strides to catch up to Elizabeth, "Shall we?"

"Sure?" Elizabeth replied, still transitioning from anger to confusion and amusement at the situation.

Agent Fitzwilliam grabbed Elizabeth's arm and guided her out of the office. When the door shut he quietly murmured, "If you don't mind popping into my office for a moment, I actually do need to ask you about something, but Darcy's clearly frothed and doesn't need to be involved."

"Okay…" Elizabeth scrunched her brow, now firmly at confused. "I mean squids don't usually make people too unhappy, but I would agree that he is well and truly 'frothed' as you said."

"I must commend you on your ability to get a rise out of the most composed man of my acquaintance."

"Well apparently I have a gift, this wasn't the first time." Elizabeth sighed, "I really don't act so unprofessionally usually, but he seems equally skilled in putting me on edge."

"Weird," Fitzwilliam shrugged, opening the door to his office for her "While a bit awkward, Darcy has always been fairly good with most people."

"I'm apparently not most people." She shook her head, "So what about squids do you want to know?"

Fitzwilliam looked momentarily confused, then his features cleared, "Oh, yes, I'm afraid that was a bit of a fib, it's a security issue, but don't worry, it's below Darcy's paygrade."

"Security issue? I don't think I've set anything off lately."

"Please, take a seat." He gestured to her to sit in the chair across from his desk. "You are aware that all emails, outgoing and incoming, are monitored? Yes?"

"Yeah," Elizabeth settled in her seat, "But my mother's questions about if I've found a man still remain, so I know my request for that to be taken out was denied."

Agent Fitzwilliam snorted, "If we took that out of all emails to personnel, they would receive half as many emails as they do now. But the issue at hand concerns an email your father sent you this morning."

"Did you guys hold it back or something? I didn't see anything from my inbox." She looked puzzled.

"Yes, it was held back." He nodded, then handed her a paper, "This is what he sent."

Elizabeth scanned the email, it seemed pretty normal, what he was teaching that semester, students he liked, the newest strange thing her mother had begun doing. Then she saw it, close to the end:

'When you come home I must show you some cave paintings one of the younger professors found on a dig. I'm almost sure it's about a luska terrorising their village, maybe you'll have more to add to it.'

"Oh." was all she said, trying to think of a rational way to explain this without getting her father in trouble. "Well I mean, he knows I'm a cephalopod expert, maybe he just made the same intuitive leap you guys did when you hired me."

"But is that the case?" Agent Fitzwilliam asked, a brow arched.

Elizabeth slumped down in her seat. "No." He kept looking at her, so she caved, "He's an archaeologist. I was giving my family the official story you guys gave me, but he could tell I wasn't telling the truth, he's always been really good at that. Anyways, he kind of guessed, and it turns out he knew about monsters already, because of the digs he'd go on in South America. I swear I didn't tell him."

"I see." Agent Fitzwilliam nodded, "I'm not terribly surprised, your father's monster encounters were included in your background check."

"He's never been good at staying out of trouble." She sighed, "He's probably acting out because he's stuck with just my mom and sister Lydia. They're good people, but dad's a bit more of an intellectual than them, so conversations about fashion or celebrity gossip just doesn't do it for him. Do you have to report him for being a flippant idiot?"

"Technically I should," Agent Fitzwilliam's face gave away nothing, "but tell me, how close are the two of you?"

"Very." Elizabeth laughed self deprecatingly, "I must sound like such a loser for saying this, but Dad's honestly my best friends. He didn't try to make me into a tomboy, and it wouldn't have worked, I like shoes too much, but we were alway the father/daughter duo who went camping together and he took me to the range, judo classes, the library. It was hard when I went away for my undergraduate, that's why I applied to PhD programs closer to home."

"I see," Fitz finally cracked a smile, "I understand how it can be stressful to not be able to tell the most important person in you life the truth. And considering he was already aware of monsters' existence, I don't think it's at all out of line to make an exception in certain secrecy requirements for emails to your father."

"So I could talk to him about what's actually going on?" she asked, surprised, "With my research, the people, stuff like that?"

"I don't see why not." He nodded, "Though you should know this isn't a free pass. Your emails will still be read, you still can't disclose the location of the facility, or discuss any government officials you are aware of that are involved with MCB, or anything of that nature."

"So basically I can talk about monsters, but not anything about MCB specifically?"

"Precisely." He nodded. "I'll talk to the agent in charge of the screening process today, so you'll get the email I've showed you tomorrow and you can proceed with whatever level of communication you desire. We'll be sending your father an email to the explain the situation as well."

Elizabeth exhaled heavily, "Thank you. I really appreciate this so much."

"Like I said, I know how hard it is to not tell important people the truth." He nodded. "And in the end it because a deal breaker." the agent who had remained mostly jolly seemed subdued.

"Can I ask who your person was?" ELizabeth asked, curious.

Agent Fitzwilliam stood, indicating their meeting was over, "Anne."

"Girlfriend?" Elizabeth stood and offered a hand.

"Fiancee." He replied, shaking it, "Well, I'll most likely see you around."

"Most likely," She smiled, "I'll let you know next time I have a meeting with Darcy, you can have the fire extinguisher ready."

He laughed, but called out to her she shut the door. "Elizabeth, a word of advice about Darcy?"

"I could use all the help I can get." She leaned against the doorway. "Aside from of course, not yelling at him as much as I do, what can you suggest?"

"Understand that he doesn't fight back unless he respects you." Fitz smiled gently, "You're not the first to be unhappy being drafted here, but I've never seen him actually yell at someone like that besides his sister before she joined MHI. And you will never see him fight with Caroline, despite her best efforts, because she doesn't want to be anything other than the displaced socialite she is. You are clearly far more than that."

Elizabeth nodded, unsure how to take what the agent said. "Thanks." she nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."


	10. Chapter 10

I know, I know, it's been two weeks. So here you go! Also just fun fact about the author, if you haven't guessed already, I'm a super nerd and currently studying biology. Not Marine Biology like Elizabeth, I'm terrible at swimming and blood makes me pass out, but more on the molecular level, so if I get pretty heavy on the sciencey bits it's because currently all of my life is focused on it right now. Just ask my family, somehow I can make everything about science :) Also always, I love to hear what you think!

Apologies and thanks to those who pointed out my terrible editing! I was trying to get everything finished, then it was like two in the morning and clearly editing is not my forte past midnight :)

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The facility was abuzz. It always was near one of the quarterly parties, at least according Jane and Charlotte. Officially the parties were to increase staff moral and release tension, basically a way for everyone to blow off some steam and let loose. If the MCB wanted to pay for an evening of fun for her mental wellbeing Elizabeth wasn't going to argue.

Elizabeth, Jane, Charlotte, and several other female agents and researchers claimed one of the communal bathrooms for the express purpose of a stereotypical girls nights, where everyone got ready together. The group primping and preening got all the women into a festive, giggly mood. While Elizabeth had left most of her "Do Me" heels packed up in her parent's basement, she had brought one pair. The classic black leather heels were easily six inches tall, with a healthy platform. Combine with her burgundy dress that cinched in at the waist and ended just a few inches above her knee, Elizabeth's legs looked a million mile long.

One of the very best parts of party preparations, at least in Elizabeth's opinion, was that the female agents all included at least one concealed weapon in their festive ensemble. Charlotte's dark blue dress fluttered prettily around her legs, yet somehow did not expose the garter holster strapped to her thigh. Another agent, Stephanie, was sporting knee high boots, into one which she had inserted a set of long sharp knives, and the other she stowed her service piece. The heart shaped cutout in the back of Gigi's dress was also a convenient access point for the pistol stowed off to the left of the small of her back. Not that any of these weapons were visible when all preparations were complete; partially because that was unprofessional, and partially because there was some delicious aspect of being well armed and done up nicely with none the wiser.

Jane had rolled her eyes, as Elizabeth strapped on her own garter holster. "Elizabeth, I understand carrying your gun when you're in the labs, something bad could happen in there with a specimen, but to a party? Really? Are you worried someone will get too friendly?"

"I'd never shoot Collins." Elizabeth replied, carefully pulling the straps, and assuring that the holster would not tear her stockings. "But the reality is that the same dangers present in the lab are present outside of the lab, we'd just have a bit more warning. We live freaking underwater in a metal box, if that vamp on level four got out, we'd all be royally screwed." She carefully brushed down her skirt and walked over to a mirror. "Just because I put on a party dress doesn't change that reality."

"She's right you know." Charlotte chimed through a mouthful of bobby pins, carefully pinning her dreadlocks to one side. "For as many advantages as the facility location grants, it has some pretty huge drawbacks, at least to it's inhabitants." All of this came out in a half mumble, but she got her point across.

"Will said that agents are required to always be carrying their personal weapon." Gigi added, then held out two pair of earrings, "Sparkles or metal?" she asked, showing the options. Sparkles were the unanimous decision.

It was of some amusement to Elizabeth that the simulation rooms were used for the party, maybe because they were normally used by agents to train for monster encounters. But apparently the same computer code that could create a shoggoth tunneling under a village, devouring it, could also produce a grand ballroom with projection musicians performing at one end. At the moment a hologram Michael Buble was crooning that it was a beautiful day.

Alcohol was flowing fast and freely, making up for it's usual total absence from the Nautilus, and the mood of the room was boisterous and light. Agent Fitzwilliam greeted her soon after she'd entered with Jane and Gigi. Charlie had quickly whisked his wife away and, as he'd been on Nate duty, Gigi went over to her fellow hunter to ensure he behaved. "Doctor Bennet, you look radiant!" Fitz slipped an arm around her waist, "Shall we get you some champagne? I'm at least two glasses ahead of you, and I insist you catch up!" At first look, one would think the agent was well on his way to being drunk, however Elizabeth could tell, from the sharp look in his eye that Agent Fitzwilliam was not even close to being drunk, nor would be be at any time that night. It would go completely against his training.

Merriment, however, in no way went against his nature and Elizabeth laughed. They had become rather good friends since that latest unfortunate encounter with Darcy. Fitz was fun to banter with and they exchanged harmless flirting almost constantly. "You're look rather dashing yourself Agent Fitzwilliam." She smiled, taking the offered glass and surveyed the room, "It's so fun to see everyone dressed up! I mean out the the armour and lab coats, people look so different!"

"Agreed!" Fitzwilliams smiled, "Though certain people look equally as wonderful in their everyday attire." He winked, "Shall we dance Elizabeth? Be warned, I won't take no for an answer!"

"We shall." she replied, setting her now empty glass down and following him onto the fairly full dance floor. Holographic Michael Buble was now sing "Save the last dance for me". They spun around the floor, laughing and generally having a good time like everyone else at the party. Unlike most dance Elizabeth had ever attended, the men far outnumbered the women, at least 4-1, and so after dancing with Fitz for a song another agent cut in, and when that song ended another claimed her hand, and so forth.

After an hour or so of dancing Elizabeth retreated from the dance floor to give her feet a well deserved break. She joined Nate and Charlie at a table, from which they watched Gigi and Jane dance with a pair of researchers. "And how are my favorite gun nuts?" She asked settling down with a new glass of champagne and a plate of h'orderves.

"I don't like how that nerd is feeling up Gigi." Nate muttered, absentmindedly chomping down on an innocent canape.

"For heaven sakes Nate, if Doug is feeling your girlfriend up, then Harrison must be taking advantage of my wife." Charlie rolled his eyes. Harrison and Jane were chatting amiably, with practically a foot of space between them, "And don't pick fights with the researchers, it's literally the job description of 75 percent of this room to protect them."

"Gotta agree with Charlie on this one," Elizabeth nodded, "Besides Nate, you can't keep her to yourself, there are hardly enough girls to go around when everyone is sharing nicely." Nate grumbled, but did not argue.

"Should I be asking Marc what his intentions for Charlotte are?" Charlie asked, looking at the couple who were looking very cozy with each other in a far corner, oblivious to anyone else in the room.

"Nah, he's a teddy bear when it comes to her." Elizabeth shook her head, "Hopefully they get the hell over themselves and kiss already. I bet ten bucks they'll get together by the end of the night."

"I put down twenty on a week from now." Nate offered, "I figure something will happen tonight and it'll take a week of pretending it didn't happen before they decide to accept the obvious."

"Do you guys often bet on your friends?" Charlie asked, concerned.

"Don't get too high and mighty, Saint Charlie, you wife had five down on last week." Elizabeth laughed.

"She's never been good at gambling." he shook his head with a rueful smile.

After a few more minutes of chatting Elizabeth was pulled back into the floor by an eager partner. She was a beautiful sight, laughing and happy, truly enjoying the evening. Her spot at the table was replaced by Fitz, and soon enough Darcy joined the group of men. He always made an appearance, usually at the beginning of the parties, before disappearing soon after. The fact that he was here, with the party in full swing, took everyone by surprise, except perhaps Fitz, who'd begun to suspect that their dear leader was enamoured with a certain researcher. Darcy conversed amiably with those around him, though seemed a bit distracted. Caroline tried to entice him into dancing, several times, and he brushed off each attempt. Eventually she gave up, and instead sat as close to Darcy as possible and tried to draw him into a conversation about how embarrassingly everyone was behaving.

"I mean really, I know it's a marvelous party, I planned it, and for employee moral, but the level of decorum!" Caroline was saying, glaring at the center of the dance floor where Agents Hernandez and Lucas were pressed intimately against each other as they slowly swayed back and forth, the MHI hunter, Nate Shackleford, was currently in the process of claiming Gigi from her current partner, and Doctor Bennet was looking rather concerned as Doctor Collins lead her around the floor, the tempo of his steps completely off from the slow music, his leading style jerky and bombastic. "Look at Doctor Bennet, if she hadn't dodged poor Doctor Collins all evening, he wouldn't be acting so ridiculous now."

"Why is Doctor Bennet's avoidance of Doctor Collins responsible for his poor dancing skills?" Darcy asked, focused on the couple in question. "I was under the impression that you, as a modern, 21st century woman, would support another woman's choice to say yes or no to a potential suitor without retribution."

"It's just a dance." Caroline huffed, "It's hardly accepting a proposal of marraige to accept an invitation to dance!"

"That is true," Darcy nodded, "but from a managerial perspective, I'd prefer my employees do not cause discomfort to each other."

He began to stand, but then Fitzwilliam clapped a hand on his shoulder, "I agree completely Will, as Head Agent, I'll take care of this one."

Elizabeth was trying to figure out how the strange man had managed to corner her. She wasn't trying to be rude, but Doctor Collin's innocent attentions had became more pronounced since her appointment with him and she'd become increasingly uncomfortable in his presence. She'd skillfully managed to avoid him all evening, her behavior disguised as thoughtless frivolity, however suddenly Elizabeth had turned around at the bar and he was standing there. What had followed was terribly awkward as he maneuvered them around the floor, completely off time with the slow paced song being played. While she was not usually tall, her heels put her at least an inch taller than Doctor Collins, and she felt rather off balanced as he almost tried to pull her down, closer to him. She had also downed two shots that had been on the bar beside her before she'd been pulled onto the dancefloor, and was feeling their effects.

The song began to wind down and Elizabeth started to make her excuse to leave her partner, who was beginning to request a second dance, when a smooth voice cut through their awkward exchange. "Doctor Bennet, might I claim this next dance?"

Elizabeth looked up to see Fitz standing behind Collins. "Umm yes, of course." she replied quickly, before she could truly process who had just asked. She sighed in relief, "I'm sure you don't mind Doctor Collins."

"No of course not." Collins conceded, somewhat begrudgingly, "The lovely Doctor Bennet is all yours!"

Elizabeth sighed in relief as she was passed off to Fitz. After being slightly stooped when dancing with Collins, it was nice that her rescuer was several inches taller than her, and she leaned up against him as the newest song started. "I owe you big times Fitz, I thought I wasn't going to get out!"

"Don't worry your pretty, tipsy head about it Doctor B." Fitzwilliam chucked, wrapping his arms around her as she snuggled in his embrace, clasping her own arms around his waist. Over Elizabeth's head he saw Darcy looking at them, his brow furrowed while Caroline futilely tried to reclaim his attention.

"Can you blame me?" Elizabeth grumbled, "For a therapist he can certainly drive a girl to drink." she hiccuped slightly, "Maybe I shouldn't have snuck the vodka shot-zzzzz" Darcy's consternation appeared to be increasing exponentially and Fitz couldn't help being rather amused at the blatant jealousy on his friend's face. It seemed Darcy was just as enchanted with the firey researcher as He'd thought.

"Shots, plural?" Fitz laughed, "You naughty girl!"

"I repeat," she mumbled in his suit jacket sleepily, "He drove me to it." Fitz noticed Darcy abruptly stand up and stride out of the room, and smirked to himself.

They swayed gently back and forth, the party winding down around them, until Elizabeth was practically asleep on her feet. "I think it's time to get you back to your room." He nodded at a Gigi, who was in the process of supporting Nate. "You guys good?" Fitz asked.

"Yeah, I've got him." Gigi smiled tiredly, she nodded to the barely conscious Elizabeth. "Make sure you get her to drink a big glass of water, and she's got a thigh holster on, those suck to sleep in."

"Will do." Fitz smirked, "Do you know why Darcy left?"

"No, he had something up his butt." She snorted, "But the fact that he was even there that late in a party was a surprise, so maybe he just hit his limit."

"Yeah, probably," Fitz waved it off, "I'll see you guys tomorrow, though not in the morning."

"Night Fitz!" Gigi yawned, then shifted her grip on Nate. "Come on, you big lug, next time it's my turn to get wasted."

On the way to the elevator Fitzwilliam found it much easier to carry Elizabeth, as opposed to trying to guide her along on her sky high heels. When the doors opened onto the living area of Elizabeth's floor he carefully maneuvered out, and walked down the hall to her room. "Alright Elizabeth, I need you to wake up a bit." she grumbled, but stayed mostly upright as he set her on her feet.

The door slid open and Fitz led her to her bed, "Can you manage your holster dear?" he asked as she sat limply on the edge. Elizabeth nodded pulled her skirt up just enough to access the straps of her garter holster . He took off her heels and carefully put them by the dresser. She had a water bottle perched on her bedside table and he grabbed that and turned to see how she was doing.

"I- I can't get it." she pouted like a sleep deprived toddler, pulling ineffectively at the straps.

Fitz sighed and kneeled down next to the bed, "I'm being a total gentleman, promise you won't clock me for this tomorrow." He found the release catch for the holster and pulled out her M&P, stowing it in the top drawer of her bedside table. Returning his attention to Elizabeth he found her trying to pull her dress over her head, exposing her black and white polkadotted booty shorts and the harness for her holster. He quickly released the catch on her waist and tugged the thigh portion down her leg and past her foot. Elizabeth was still trying to pull her skirt over her head, fighting uselessly against the fabric.

"Let's keep the dress on, Dear. Sleeping in it won't kill you, and I don't want to give you any reason to kill me." Fitz pulled her skirt back down and handed her the water bottle, "Drink. All of it."

She sucked sullenly on the straw until it was empty and thrust it back at him. Fitz pulled her up long enough to turn down the covers and tucked her into bed, "Sleep well, Doc." he pressed a kiss to Elizabeth's forehead, "You're going to have a hell of a hangover tomorrow."

Fitzwilliam grabbed her water bottle and turned off the lights. He went to the door and pressed a button to keep it open while he refilled the water bottle in the lounge kitchenette. A few other staff straggled in from the party, though most of their own accord. As he returned to Elizabeth's room he was surprised to find Darcy walking down the hall from his own room, "Will, you actually stayed for the party. Did you manage to have some fun?"

"What are you doing Fitz?" Darcy demanded, angrily.

"I'm getting Doctor Bennet water for when she wakes up." He replied.

"And what are you intentions past that?"

Fitzwilliam sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Darcy, I can promise you that I have no intentions on Elizabeth, and even if I did, she'd shoot me. She enjoyed herself a bit too much at the party and I was making sure she made it to bed. Could you please deal with your feelings for the good doctor another time, I'd like to go to sleep."

"Feelings?!" Darcy nearly stuttered, looking embarrassed, "I merely wanted to ensure a certain level of professionalism in my staff, and my second in command disappearing in a female researcher's room is not professional."

"Bullshit." Fitzwilliam snorted, "If you were policing professionalism you'd have pried Hernandez and Lucas apart on the dance floor, or stopped Shackleford from getting shitfaced. Face it Will, you like Elizabeth, and that's great. She's wonderful-"

"I do not like Doctor Bennet!" Darcy interrupted angrily, his voice rising, "If you haven't noticed most of our encounters thus far have ended in shouting. Elizabeth has no interest in me, and I certainly have no interest in her!"

"That's why you spent nearly two hours staring at her on the dance floor and glowering at her partners, you were jumping at the chance to save her from Collins, and because I helped her to her room and made sure she didn't sleep with her loaded gun still strapped on, LIKE YOUR SISTER TOLD ME TO, you assume I'm trying to take advantage of her." Fitzwilliam was too tired to deal with this childish behavior from his friend. "You're right, you obviously have no feelings for Elizabeth whatsoever."

"And where exactly was her gun Fitz?" Darcy demanded, "Did she take it off, or did you?!"

"Well considering she was at the two year old stage of being drunk, yes I removed her loaded gun and garter holster!" Fitz was fed up and didn't think talking Darcy down would be possible, might as well piss him off instead, "Sorry I beat you to the punch man! Spoiler alert, polkadotted underwear. And her ass is-"

Darcy punched him square in the jaw.

Fitzwilliam stumbled back into the doorway of Elizabeth's room, the door of which was still open. "Good one Will." He grimaced, rubbing the point of impact.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" William snarled, advancing, ready to strike again, "Don't you even think about her like that again!"

"Why? I thought you had no interest." Fitz taunted, "And she's not an agent, which means she's free game if I want to take her out for a spin." He really wanted to punch himself for saying this shit, but it was clearly getting to Darcy, so he kept going, "How do you know she wouldn't be interested in going for a ride?"

Darcy swung at him again, but Fitz dodged it, taking a step back, and further into Elizabeth's room. "Shut. The. Fuck. Up." Darcy grunted, seething with rage.

"Would you look at yourself right now!" Fitz exclaimed, exasperated, "Look at how pissed you are about a woman you supposedly feel nothing for! Just look!"

Darcy was about to respond when a sleepy voice interrupted.

"What's happening?" Elizabeth was sitting up, looking confused. Her hair was rumpled and she tried to focus through bleary eyes "I heard shouting. Why are you in my room?"

The change in Darcy was instantaneous. He dropped his fists and took a step back. "Pardon me Doctor Bennet." He shot a glare at Fitzwilliam, indicating they would be discussing this at another time, and quickly left the room.

"Fitz, why are you in my room?" Elizabeth repeated bewildered,

Fitzwilliam chuckled. "I just made sure you got back to your room alright. Here's some water."

He put the water bottle on her bedside table as she snuggled back into her pillow. "Was Darcy just in here? Because he shouldn't be. He was grumpy allll night. You don't get to sleep over if you're grumpy."

"Darcy wasn't here." Fitz lied, pulling the covers over her. It served no purpose to tell her Darcy had been there if she wasn't going to remember anyways, "Night, Elizabeth."

"Night Fitz." she sighed deeply, "No offense, but don't be in my room when I sleep, it's weird." she grumbled, burrowing deeper into her bed.

He smirked, pressed a button to return the automatic door to is usual settings, and stepping out of the room, the door sliding shut behind him. "Don't worry, I don't have a death wish."

Fitz took the elevator down two levels to his own room, shed his suit, and fell into bed. Tomorrow would certainly be interesting.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys, a couple of things to talk about this update!

First off, in regards to language and question of the last chapter's rating, I consider the T rating akin to a PG-13 movie rating, which is completely in line with the posted guidelines of . So, PG -13 movies all get their 1 f-word, I've used mine and you won't see it again (unless you're familiar with military slang and the phonetic alphabet). To perhaps the disappointment of many of you, this also means nothing will be getting steamy. I've got nothing against steaminess or those who enjoy it, it's just not in my wheelhouse, and I believe in the power of imagination ;) That being said I am a fan of sexual tension, and if applicable I will be all over that!

Second, while I appreciate the support you all show by writing reviews I can't say I appreciate being told repeatedly that you all want updates. Trust me, I'm very aware that you'd like to read more, and I'm enormously flattered by the fact that you guys like what I'm writing, I want to give you new chapters, I really do! That being said there are two very important factors in if a new chapter gets published, 1) if I can find the time, which is tricky on weeks like last week, when I had three tests and a massive presentation where I had to teach my Virology class for an hour. 2) I don't want to publish what I'm not proud of. More than once I've written entire chapters and hated them, so I didn't publish that week. This isn't an issue of self esteem, it's an issue of my work not being the quality I expect of myself. Also you guys don't want to read crappy chapters, so I do it for you too! What I'm getting at with all of this is that if you have a review of helpful criticism (like those mentioning my abominable editing last chapter, I sincerely thank you), speculations on what will happen next, or even just saying that you enjoy the story, that's wonderful and I'd love to see it. However if you would kindly refrain from requesting new chapters, particularly when the last several reviews before you have done the same, that would be very much appreciated!

That leads me to my final bit: due to my schedule for the next month (4 weekends) I can't commit to publishing a chapter weekly. The end of my semester is rapidly approaching and with it a bevy of tests and papers and presentations. Regretfully (not too much actually, I really love it) I've got to give schoolwork first priority. This isn't to say I won't put out a chapter or two, however if I don't publish one weekend, I'm not playing with you, I'm just up to my eyeballs in studying!

Thanks for putting up with me for a moment, and I just want to repeat that I really do appreciate all of you guys taking the time to read this story, it's half the fun of writing it!

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The dynamics of the Nautilus changed slightly after the party, everyone was more relaxed, happier. Clearly the purpose of the party, to increase staff moral and release tension, worked. Elizabeth had to say that while the few interactions she'd had with Caroline had left a nebulous feeling of discomfort, the woman had thrown quite a party. The music had been on point, the food easily surpassing the Nautilus chef's usual excellence, and the overall event had exceeded expectation. As someone who gave credit where credit was due, Elizabeth sought Caroline out the Monday after, in the canteen, to express how wonderful the party was.

Caroline's response to the compliment had been confusing. Her words were mostly polite, but her tone indicated utmost distaste with Elizabeth. "Yes, thank you Doctor Bennet. I thought everything came together well."

"I think Jane mentioned that you did party planning before? It must have been a change to throw parties down here, with such limitations." Elizabeth acknowledged, trying to continue the conversation.

"Well, one adapts as one must." Caroline replied airily, "And clearly everyone enjoyed the party. I noticed you were having quite the time."

"Yes, I did enjoy myself," Elizabeth replied, suddenly feeling self conscious. "The event was to blow off steam, so that's what I did. Perhaps I enjoyed myself a little more than I normally would have, but no harm, no foul."

"No foul?" Caroline repeated sourly, as if she thought some sort of foul had taken place. "Of course not. Now, Doctor Bennet, if you'd excuse me, I've somewhere to be." And with that the slight woman trotted off in heels, her signature dark bob swishing sharply.

"If I didn't know better I'd say that woman was a vampire." Fitz muttered, coming up behind Elizabeth,

"Is she the mysterious vamp on Level 4 I'll never gain clearance to see?" Elizabeth laughed, turning around.

"Fortunately no. And actually Doc, in that regard I've got some good news for you." Fitz said in a sing-song voice. "Level 4, not Caroline." He clarified.

"How does anyone take you seriously?" she asked in amusement, "And what about Level 4? Have they at least revoked Nate's clearance to make up for me not getting any?"

"No, And they take me seriously because I kick ass, and if they don't I can fire people, which in this business is rather permanent." Fitz waved a manilla envelope in her face, "Now guess again."

"Yes, yes, license to kill" Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "Please just tell me what it is."

"Well Doctor Bennet," He resumed a more professional persona, "I'm pleased to inform you that your request to work on the zombie vaccine project has been reviewed, and you've been granted clearance to access the pertinent laboratory in Level 4."

"Serious?" was all Elizabeth could say.

"Read it and weep dear." Fitz replied, handing her the envelope he'd been holding outside of arm's reach.

She tore it open and read the letter, stating in black and white, that she, Doctor Elizabeth Bennet, was now authorized to work in the Level 4 laboratory currently researching the development of a human safe vaccine against the zombie virus. The bottom was signed by Agent Calvin Fitzwilliam and Agent William Darcy.

"I should have given this to you Friday, but everyone was so jazzed for the party, it was left on my desk." Fitz silently considered it was best the decision was made before Darcy's outburst after the party. He'd already decided to tell Elizabeth what had happened, maybe she would get mad and fight with Darcy and the two of them could get together sooner, like a bad rom com.

"Ah the party, Caroline seems to think I behaved poorly." Elizabeth smirked, looking through the other papers contained in the envelope.

"You were taken to bed by a strange man." Fitz reminded her.

"Do I need to give you a pep talk about self worth Fitz? Because you really shouldn't call yourself strange." she smacked him lightly on the shoulder with the sheaf of papers. "Thanks again for that, I usually pace myself a little better, but I was distracted dogging Collins all night. And I've never won against vodka, that was a poor choice."

"I'm just glad you were out of it enough to not maim me for taking your gun off you." Fitz grinned, "Speaking of which, Hernandez and Shackleford, are working on a project I'd like your input in. You've got a more experience with guns than most researchers, and at the moment more understanding about luska than most agents. We're due for an update on the luska encounter simulations and I was hoping you could provide some realistic, measurable specs on the monster's durability, strength, speed, etc. maybe some pertinent behavioral traits based off physiology."

"So you want me to write up a RPG profile for a monster?" Elizabeth clarified, "Will I have to meet with Darcy to ensure I'm qualified? Because I need at least a week before I'm prepped for another argument. Do you know what's up with him? He was weird all weekend; for example, I was brushing my teeth Saturday morning," Fitz raised an eyebrow and she conceded, "Okay it was like 1 in the afternoon, but I'd just gotten up, and he walked into the bathroom, saw me, and literally about-faced and left as quickly as possible."

"Erm, yeah, I need to talk to you about that," Fitz glanced around the canteen, "But maybe not here."

"Why not here?" Elizabeth asked, confused, "I may have been out of it, but I know I didn't try anything with Darcy. Right? Drunk Me loves Sober Me too much to do something like that!"

"No, you didn't do anything, but, well…" he thought for a moment, "Can we go to my office?"

"Sure… why?" She asked, following Fitz as he headed out the door.

"People stop and knock on my door, they just walk into your office." he explained.

"Not making me feel better!" She informed him as they walked down the hall, towards the administration offices.

"You'll thank me soon enough. Best to avoid the prying ears of gossips." Fitz muttered, holding open in office door. "They'd have a field day with this one."

"Calvin Fitzwilliam, if you don't tell me what you're talking about I'm going to try very hard to kick your ass!" Elizabeth replied in rising panic. "Did I try to give Darcy a lapdance or something? There's no way I was drunk enough for that!"

"No, no, nothing like that," Fitz sat heavily at the corner of his desk. "Though now I'm a bit curious as to what Drunk Elizabeth has gotten up to in the past."

"Most of the time, nothing. Drunk Elizabeth rarely gets into trouble, but Sober Elizabeth has a worse-case-scenario imagination, which you have put into over drive!"

"Well this is one of the stranger things I've ever had to explain." Fitz shrugged, then took pity on her panicked face, "Don't worry, Drunk Elizabeth did nothing other than be just as friendly as Sober Elizabeth always is."

"Soooo, then what happened with Darcy, did we magically get along and that's why he's shorting out?" Elizabeth demanded, beginning to pace, "Could you please stop beating around the bloody bush?!"

"Well, erm, this requires some explaining." Fitz began, gesturing for Elizabeth to sit. "You recall that, after the meeting with Will to determine your eligibility for the Zombie Vaccine project, I told you he didn't fight with people if he didn't respect them?" she nodded, "Well I might have been downplaying that more than a little."

"Explain." she demanded slowly.

"Will and I have been working side by side for the past 7 years, 4 years since the Nautilus has been up and running, and 3 years before that doing normal MCB things. I know this guy like I know my brother, actually at this point I know Will better than I know Brad, but Brad's kind of a douche. Anyways, in our line of work, as MCB agents, you can't tell most people what you do, so you get close to your fellow agents, and you share basically everything. It's not like some kumbaya, love circle crap, but late nights doing paperwork after you just had to clean up a vampire nest or ending some guy who survived a werewolf attack, but got infected, because if you don't he'll be munching on some poor innocent the next full moon. It's tough shit, and it gets you talking about life. He helped me through when Anne left. And I talked him down when Gigi joined MHI. So I know William Darcy." Fitz looked at Elizabeth, his eyes hard. "He fights with you because he respects you, but I'm fairly certain he also has feelings for you… of a romantic nature."

Elizabeth blanched. "Annd, what makes you think he has these, um feelings?"

"Well he punched me Friday night, after the party, when I came out of your room." Fitz rubbed the dark bruise on his jaw.

"Figured you hadn't hit your face slipping in the shower." she responded, looking peeved.

"Nope. He was pissed already because Caroline had had him cornered, and I rescued you from Collins before he could. I'd put you in bed, and went to fill up your water. When I come back, he was in the hallway. He thought I was taking advantage of you."

Elizabeth made a sound of discontent, "'Rescued' is a bit strong. But how could he think that of you, if you're so close?"

"Well I may have prodded him a bit, after he got started." Fitz admitted, "But I was hoping when he got it out he'd calm down and maybe we could have a rational discussion."

"And did that work?" Elizabeth demanded, sounding angry.

"I'm not entirely sure. You woke up and he ran out. I gave Saturday to let him cool down, then I couldn't find him Sunday. I wanted talk to him this morning, but it was his turn to do sims with the agents, and those bastards are the biggest gossips I've ever met, so I was going to wrangle him later today." Fitz shrugged.

"What exactly did you say to 'prod' him?" she asked sharply.

"I might have purposely said some really douchey thing about you, your choice of underwear, and that if I was interested you might be up for a roll in the hay." He looked sheepish. She looked livid. "I promise that it was only to get him to stop pretending he didn't have a thing for you. I felt like washing my mouth out afterwards, but I meant absolutely none of it!"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't clock you right now!" Elizabeth demanded. "Why the hell would you feel the need to provoke Darcy?! Even if he does supposedly have feeling for me, what purpose does it serve if he admits it? Have you considered the idea that I may not reciprocate?! I can accept that I've maybe been more combative than usual, but this isn't middle school, that doesn't mean I like him! And he might not be as bad as I paint him, Jane made that clear, but I have absolutely zero interest in having anything other than a professional relationship with William Darcy!" she finished in a shout.

Unbeknownst to either Elizabeth or Fitz, the door to Fitz's office had opened just after the start of Elizabeth's reaction to Fitz's dumb choices. A throat cleared. They whipped around to see none other than William Darcy standing in the doorway, his expression stone faced. He was once again in exercise clothes, clearly having just returned from the simulators.

"Will, I-" Fitz began.

"Stop." Darcy replied tightly. He turned to Elizabeth, "Doctor Bennet, if you don't have anything else to say about me, you're free to go."

Elizabeth felt entirely horrible. Ordinarily she felt no guilt at stating, usually more politely, her disinterest in a potential relationship. However the mix of anger at Fitz and embarrassment at Darcy's entrance was only made worse by the look in his eyes, the effort of concealing emotion more present than the emotion that he was trying to hide. It made her stomach churn and tighten. "I'm- I'm sorry." was all she could lamely manage, before practically sprinting out of the room.

"What the hell were you doing Fitz?" Darcy asked, looking furious and betrayed, and worst of all, defeated. Fitz began to answer, but Darcy cut him off, speaking carefully, however increasing in volume, "I was here to talk to you about what happened Friday night. I know I was out of line, and I thought you knew you were out of line as well. But in what twisted, meddling part of your deluded, jockstrap of a brain, could you possibly consider it appropriate to tell Doctor Bennet that I may have feelings for her."

Fitz adjusted his shoulders, and rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I don't know. In seven years I've never seen you have any interest in a woman, ever. I always knew that whoever it would be, she'd have to be special. And then you come back from a recruiting trip, pissed to high heaven at the female researcher who'd tried to pull her gun on you, twice. And ever since then that delightful, smart ass of a woman has thrown you off your game in a way that meeting the damned President hadn't done. You've claimed that you've been off because of the stress caused by Gigi and Nate being here, but I know it's because you like her."

"Why push me over the edge Friday?" Darcy demanded. Fitz mentally noted that Will hadn't said he was wrong.

"Because Elizabeth was out of it, and if I got you to admit it, maybe we could have had a rational discussion about it. Like when you waited for me to almost get myself killed on that lindworm job, after Anne left, before I'd actually talk to you about it."

Will was shaking his head in exasperation and sat heavily in one of the chairs. "What did you think I'd say Fitz? That yes, I find Doctor Bennet to be an entirely captivating woman? Did you need me to tell you I was half in love with her before I even finished reading her background check? That's why I took a year and obtaining a fully intact luska sample before selecting her for recruitment, because I had to be sure I was being impartial. Do you need me to admit that I liked her even more when she tried to pulled her gun on me? She's passionate about what she does, she's passionate about life, she's sharp as hell, how do I not be attracted to that?" Darcy held his head in his hand, running his fingers through his already disheveled hair. "You know what it's like Fitz, this life. You know how hard it is to find someone who's allowed to know what the world is really like, much less still be willing to wake up every day and live in it. I've known for a long time that I could only fall for a very unique woman, and now I've found her and she couldn't hate me more."

The office was quiet for a while. Fitz couldn't muster an excuse, he knew he'd been incredibly out of line. Eventually Darcy stood up. "I know you meant well, in your own way, Fitz, but in the future, please let me make a blunder of things in my own time." He walked to the door and looked at his friend with a wry expression on his face. "It sounds like Doctor Bennet was rather angry at you by the time I showed up, you might want to go apologize to her; maybe let her hit you a few times, I known I enjoyed it."

Fitz snorted, "Thanks man, I'll give it a go," He stood and extended his hand to Darcy, "For what it's worth Will, I'm sorry, I screwed up big time."

"No arguments here." Darcy nodded, then grinned a bit evilly, pulling him into a man hug, "Fair warning, tomorrow you're running the agents on the Vamp sims, highest level, hope you're up for it."

"Ohh," Fitz winced and pulled a face, "I suppose it's no more than what I deserve, but doesn't mean I like it."

"Well stay out of my personal life and I'll call it even." Darcy slapped him on the shoulder and walked down the hall towards his own office. He knew Fitz had had the best intentions, but his dear friend couldn't have made much more of a charlie foxtrot of things if he'd tried.


	12. Chapter 12

Hey all! I appreciate your patience! It's been a crush and this chapter was pieced together in little bits and pieces when I needed (and had time for) a break! I unfortunately realized that I miscounted how long I had left in the semester, I can't promise consistent chapter postings again until the weekend of April 16th, clearly I was just psyched to graduate and wanted it to happen sooner :D

Also, on an entirely different note, I realized (with some feedback from you awesome people) is that the Darcy in this story doesn't really have his own growth arc, which is dumb. One of my favorite parts of Pride and Prejudice has always been that both Elizabeth and Darcy both require growing and getting over themselves to be the awesome couple we all know them to be. Maybe because this is my first fanfic, or just because I really liked the Elizabeth that showed up as I was writing her, I just kinda made Darcy a good, if not awkard, guy who doesn't need much polishing to balance and accentuate Elizabeth as she completes her growth arc. You all may not care at all, but for those who do I wanted to acknowledge the oversight on my part. I definitely want to rectify this mistake in future writing endeavors and make sure I create equally flawed individuals!

That's what I've got to say, hope you enjoy!

* * *

Elizabeth had no clue what she should do after Darcy dismissed her from Fitz's office. It wasn't great that her boss, who apparently liked her, heard her say she didn't like him back. That sentence sounded like something one would overhear in a middle school hallway, she thought to herself. Eventually she decided to go to the gym, since actually running away wasn't an option, maybe she'd just take a couple laps around the track.

Everyone was required to clock time in the gym, to maintain overall health despite living in a confined space, so Elizabeth's exercise clothes were already neatly tucked away in her assigned locker. She changed quickly, smiling blandly at anyone who acknowledged her, and began to jog around the track, letting her body warm up. It had taken Elizabeth a very long time to willingly go running, quite honestly she still didn't enjoy it. If exercise wasn't actively requiring her attention, like martial arts did, then she usually got bored and found something else to do.

Today however, Elizabeth took the opportunity and allowed her mind to think over what had just happened, thinking back to incidence that would prove or disprove Darcy's apparent feeling for her. She thought about how he'd behaved when she was recruited, like she was the one being difficult because he'd decided to hijack her life. She considered their first argument at the Nautilus, where he'd told her about her utter lack of a life in the real world, and every argument they'd had thereafter. It made absolutely no sense to Elizabeth how Darcy could like her. Unless of course, he was even more awkward than she had ever managed.

She had to admit that aside from her father's study, Elizabeth had never felt so happy in a place than she did down here at the Nautilus. It was the people, it was the science, it was the fact that at least 3 out of 4 people were armed and willing to discuss guns at a moment's notice. It was the treasures like Charlotte and Jane, who were respected in their fields, and were also amazing, feminine women, who could kill people in twelve different ways without breaking a sweat. Elizabeth wasn't strange here, and that was more liberating that she could have imagined.

So why did she feel the need to remind Darcy of her forcible recruitment whenever the opportunity presented itself? Reviewing their past encounters, more than anything, she felt like he'd baited her… or maybe she felt she had something to prove on the outset, and while she'd integrated quite happily into the Nautilus, maybe she still associated that feeling of powerlessness to Darcy.

Thoughts continued to tumble in Elizabeth's mind, until she realized that she'd sped up and managed to run nearly a mile and a half without noticing. Her thoughts still a jumble, but she slowed her pace to a jog, and began to take note of the group in the center of the track. Two agents had just begun a round of sparring, deliberate jabs and well timed kicks flying between them, several other agents having gathered to watch the proceedings.

Each were huge, muscle bound men. A Marine Corps tattoo was proudly displayed on the bulging forearm of one of the agents as he blocked and dodged the other's right hook. The second agent's left upper arm and shoulder was covered in what appeared to be traditional Samoan or Tongan tattoos. Elizabeth couldn't tell which, however from the design she could see as the men grappled, it was beautifully intricate. She also appreciated the skill which the fighters displayed. There was no single style of combat used, but the fighters seemed to combine several different disciplines. She recognized Krav maga and judo from her own repertoire, as well as what she thought was karate, jujutsu, kung fu, and even a few moves she recognized from a fighting exhibition of Gurkha Kukri, the martial arts used by the legendary Gurkha fighters from Nepal. She'd have to ask the agents if she could train with them some time, it would be useful to expand her skill set, or at the very least, it would be a challenge, which to Elizabeth was the same thing.

Eventually the former Marine tapped out, his opponent having his head locked between an arm and thigh, shoulders pressed to the mat. The winner helped his fellow agent to his feet and they shook hands, exchanging wry, good natured promises of future defeat. Up next was Agent Stephanie Kreutz, who Elizabeth knew from getting ready for the party together, going up against the agent from the previous bout, with the tribal tattoos. "Kreutz challenging Piutau," the moderator announced before stepping out of the ring. It was interesting to Elizabeth to see the shift in tactics Piutau used as his current opponent was now much smaller and quicker than the previous. He now had to hold back or fully commit to a maneuver to avoid allowing her to use his size against him.

Elizabeth's attention was pulled from the match by the sound of footsteps coming up behind her. She turned her head to see Fitz, looking apologetic, jogging after her. "What?" She asked, in anger and exasperation, "Anything else that's none of your business that you need to share today?"

"I wanted to apologize." He said quietly, keeping pace with her as she sped up, "I was completely out of line and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"Damn right you shouldn't have." She retorted, and then sped up. She may have done some processing, but that didn't mean she wasn't still mad with Fitz. When she realized she hadn't lost him she continued, "This isn't some dumb chick-flick. This is real freaking life, and I realize you've probably taken a lot of blows to the head over the course of your job, but that falling in love because you hate each other crap doesn't really happen. Just because people argue, it doesn't mean they're going to jump each other. Life isn't a period romance novel."

Fitz wanted to argue, he knew Darcy's real feelings, but he'd also been asked to stop meddling. "I'm sorry." He repeated, displaying what he considered great levels of self control. Darcy's advice coming to mind he smiled, "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

"Yes, by never interfering in my personal life again. That would be absolutely stellar!" She replied snarkily, resolutely looking forward.

"Consider it done." Fitz huffed, "And really Elizabeth, I'm extremely sorry."

Elizabeth slowed briefly to a jog, wiping a trickle of sweat from her forehead, "I know Fitz, and you're okay. Just give me some time and space and we'll be good. Okay?"

He nodded, "I can do that, starting now. Possibly because I didn't stretch and if I try to keep up with you I'll end up pulling something, but yes, I'll see you around Doc." Fitz he saluted and slowed, heading to the center of the track to join the group of agents watching the sparring match.

She smirked, and sped up, deciding to take a few more laps before calling it a day. Elizabeth felt a little bit better knowing that at least Fitzwilliam felt suitably horrible about what he'd done. The main problem for her at this point, aside from far more introspection and speculation than she'd like, was that at some point she'd have to face Darcy, and she couldn't see that going well. Maybe she could avoid him for a while, until everything blows over.

That plan failed. After finishing her run and tidying up, she went to her office to look over test results that should have come in on the muscle composition. With Fitz's earlier request to help develop a Luska simulator in mind, Elizabeth figured that, with these test results and the study a friend was conducting in Australia with live octopus, she could make some decent estimates on actual luska strength profiles. She was more than surprised to open the door to her office and see Darcy standing awkwardly by her desk, looking at the pictures she had taped up. He was currently looking a picture of her and her father from a fishing trip a few years earlier, she liked that one, it had been a good trip.

Darcy looked startled when she opened the door, but regain his composure quickly. "Doctor Bennet, I apologize for the intrusion, however I hadn't been sure when you'd arrive and I didn't want to cause gossip by loitering in the hallway. I would like to address the incident in Agent Fitzwilliam's office earlier today."

Elizabeth tried to relax, though that wasn't really working. "Um, yes, I do need to apologize. I had no intention of you ever hearing what I said, I'm sorry I was so rude." Her admission did very little to assuage her guilt, or the awkwardness, and she knew he was very aware that she hadn't apologized for what she said, but Elizabeth was not about to apologize for what she wasn't sorry for. She closed the door behind her and carefully stepped around him to sit at her desk. He followed suit, settling in the chair facing her across the collection of files and pens that littered her desk.

Darcy looked pained, but nodded politely, "Yes, I assumed as much." He cleared his throat. "I wanted to apologize for Agent Fitzwilliam's poor behavior, he was entirely out of line."

"Yeah, he apologized for that." She answered, trying to find a way to not make eye contact without seeming childish.

"Good, did he give you the opportunity to hit him? I told him that might speed along the reconciliation process." Darcy offered with a weak smile.

"Um no, but he did try to run without warming up. I think he got a stitch in his chest, and hopefully there'll be some leg cramping later." Elizabeth half heartedly tried for a joke.

Darcy sighed in amusement, but then fell silent, and that silence sat heavily between them. Eventually Elizabeth figured that things were already half down the drain, so she might as well get the full story. "So was Fitz going crazy, or was he, well, telling the truth… about your, erm, what happened after the party, and your feelings for me."

Darcy grimaced, "Ah, yes, I thought you'd be concerned about that, and rightly so. I acted out of line, Friday night and yes, that was fueled by some feelings on my part."

"Oh." Elizabeth bit her lip, not knowing what else to say.

He saw that and quickly continued, "From what you said earlier today I understand you have no such interest, which is of course your prerogative. I wanted to assure you that there will be no effect on your work situation. To ensure completely unbiased decisions regarding any research at this facility in the future I will be reorganizing the research department leadership. It was perhaps time to do so anyways, as you've indicated previously I do not have sufficient scientific background to make final decisions regarding research. All future decisions of funding and project assignments or reassignments will go through a board composed of the most senior researchers, representing all security levels. I will be briefed on the goings on, and have veto power only if facility safety or egregious spending is a concern." His face was impassive as he said this, and his tone had an air of finality. "I'll be sending out the email regarding this change as soon as I leave. The committee should be form by next week at the latest."

"Um, wow." Elizabeth replied quietly, "I guess I should say thank you. I appreciate the effort you're willing to take to ensure unbiased decision making, but really I wasn't worried you'd be, erm, vindictive about things. Really, I don't want you to make too big of a fuss. We're adults, we can just move forward. Be professional."

He half smiled, almost sadly, "That's very kind of you, and of course I intend to proceed professionally, however the formation of a more informed board of decision makers has been under consideration for a while. Recent events have simply illustrated the need for such a reorganization." Again, his voice made it clear this decision was final.

"Well, as long as this isn't some extreme measure because of what happened." Elizabeth responded a bit more firmly. She'd be lying to say she hadn't considered the possible negative repercussions of what had happened, and there was more than a little relief that while Darcy was no longer directly in control of her career within the Nautilus.

"I don't want to take up any more of your time Doctor Bennet, if you'll excuse me." Darcy stood and took the few steps to the door and left.

Elizabeth sat there, once again not sure what to do with herself. It seemed to be a theme today. She wasn't really sure how she though Darcy would have acted upon hearing her rather rude declaration of disinterest, however he could have been understandably upset and defensive or aggressive in response to the situation. He had been rather kind about it all. Why had he been kind about it? Did he think her affections would change? Did he want to pretend it was all nothing? She had spoken of proceeding as adults, as professionals, but was there really any such thing? Humans were by nature petty and vindictive, why the hell wasn't Darcy being petty and vindictive?

Elizabeth ached to talk to someone about this, she always needed a second opinion on deciphering human behavior, as it was far from her forte; but her hands were tied in all respects. Jane and Charlotte were completely out of the question, as was the rest of the Nautilus staff. Hypothetically she could discuss the issue with Doctor Collins, who was bound by Doctor-Patient confidentiality, however there was no way in hell she'd willingly discuss anything with Collins, much less sensitive personal issues. Elizabeth seriously considered emailing her father about it, but that would be read by the security office which went back to the fact that her co-workers couldn't know. She wasn't sure if she was trying to protect herself from scorn and ridicule, or perhaps protecting Darcy a little bit too.

She leaned forward and let her head drop to the desk. Mondays suck.


End file.
